There’s one app on Lillie Weiser’s cell phone that consumes her life.
 
Which doesn’t really make her stand apart from a large percentage of her teen-age counterparts. But whereas the apps that immediately come to mind for today’s teens are TikTok, Instagram or SnapChat, that’s not the case for Weiser.
 
No, the Onaga junior’s screen time is dominated by a completely different one altogether.
 
“I use the Reminder App on my phone like crazy,” Weiser admitted. “It’s where all my screen time goes.”
 
For anyone who knows Weiser, that statement rings 100% true. A three-sport athlete at Onaga who also is or has been involved in nearly every club and activity the Class 1A school offers, Weiser’s schedule is one most teenagers couldn’t even begin to comprehend. Most adults too.
 
And that’s what sets her apart from her peers.
 
“Sometimes I get a little worried about her, that she’s putting too many things on her plate at the same time,” Onaga math teacher Ann Kocher said. “Evidently, she doesn’t sleep. I don’t know. But she really seems to do a good job of balancing what needs to get done. She’s great at prioritizing her time and a great organizer. She’s just an overall good egg.”
 
Indeed, if an opportunity presents itself there’s a good chance Weiser is going to take advantage of experiencing it. She just can’t help herself.
 
“I have to be busy all the time,” said Weiser, this week’s CapFed® TrueBlue® Student of the Week. “I can’t let myself do nothing I guess.”
 
Nothing exemplifies Weiser’s hectic schedule – and her ability to master it -- more than a 72-hour period she navigated a week and a half ago.
 
Weiser began her whirlwind competing at the Class 3-2-1A wrestling regional at Rossville on Friday. A hopeful state qualifier at 125 pounds despite being a first-year wrestler, Weiser lost her very first match of the tournament.
 
Not only was she devastated because of the long road she faced in the consolation bracket to earn a state berth, but also because that road potentially interfered with another priority for the weekend, helping Onaga’s Scholars Bowl team in its quest to win a Class 1A Division I state championship.
 
“I started to cry and told my coaches I was done, I couldn’t do both (on Saturday),” Weiser said. “But Coach (Brandon Merriman) told me, ‘I have a plan just trust me and take it one match at a time. You put in the hard work and we’ll do the behind-the-scenes stuff.’”
 
Putting in hard work is something Weiser has never backed down from, so she picked herself up off the mat, literally, and won two straight matches in the consolation bracket on Friday night. She then came out Saturday morning and after falling behind 13-4 in the second period to Pleasant Ridge’s Alexis Blackard in the blood round match, she fought back and pinned Blackard to clinch a top-eight finish and a berth in this weekend’s Class 3-2-1A state tournament in Hays.
 

With her state trip secured, Weiser defaulted her final two matches and drove two hours to Lincoln to join her Onaga Scholars Bowl teammates at the state competition. After going undefeated at the Twin Valley League meet and tying Northern Heights for first at regionals, the Buffaloes had high hopes of challenging for a state title. 
 
But missing another member of the team who opted to stay and wrestle after reaching the championship semifinals in Rossville, Onaga fell just short of advancing out of pool play. The Buffaloes went 2-3 and tied for the third and final qualifying spot with Greeley County and Elkhart, but lost out on the point-differential tiebreaker with an 80-0 loss to eventual state champion Wichita Independent the killer.
 
“I’d done Scholars Bowl my entire career and wrestling was new to me, so Scholars Bowl was my No. 1 priority if it came down to having to really choose,” she said. “It was important for me to get to state in wrestling. We were looking to break the record for the number of qualifiers we’ve ever had this year and I wanted to be one of those. Being a first-year wrestler and making it to state is crazy in itself. But going to Scholars Bowl state and competing as well as I did was exciting.”
 
That dedication to both teams wasn’t lost, or surprising, to either coach.
 
“My favorite thing about Lillie is that when she makes a commitment, she follows through,” Onaga Scholars Bowl coach Hannah Kolterman said. “Her commitment to our team is commendable and I’m so proud to be her coach.”
 
“We just told her, ‘Handle what you can handle and win your next two matches and we’ll see what tomorrow brings,’” Merriman said of his message to Weiser after her opening regional loss. “She showed her grit and determination. She could’ve folded her cards on Friday or Saturday morning, but she worked and finished just like she’s done all year. Lillie is one of those students and athletes that absolutely wants to be the best at everything she does and when she isn’t she works to get to that level.”
 
For good measure, Weiser finished out the weekend playing in a club volleyball tournament.
 
“I found myself hoping for a snow day because I had two days of wrestling and then state Scholars Bowl and volleyball,” Weiser said of the week following that whirlwind weekend. “It tires me out, sometimes definitely, but I never want to stop doing any of it.”
 
“She just does not back down from a challenge,” said Keri Miller, Weiser’s Enrichment Educator at Onaga. “If there’s a problem to figure out, she’s going to figure it out. She’ll give 110% in any aspect, whether it’s in the classroom, on the court, field or mat, wherever. She just doesn’t back down. She has a determination and resilience that she will figure it out one way or another.”
 

 
Weiser couldn’t necessarily pinpoint exactly where that trait came from. But she does credit her gymnastics roots for much of her involvement in her different sports or activities.
 
She began that sport when she was two years old. Being in a setting with gymnasts of all ages has helped her in her ability to work with and relate to those who are both older and younger than she is. Furthermore, it instilled in her a desire to try new things as she found herself constantly emulating her colleagues in whatever move, flip or routine they were doing.
 
“I’d see somebody doing something and I want to give it a try,” she said. “I’m still that way.”
 
But it’s not just about trying for Weiser. Her intent is never to participate in something just to say she’s done it, check a box or pad a resume. Instead, there’s always a purpose behind everything she does, which at Onaga, is everything.
 
Weiser has played volleyball for three years and led the Buffaloes to a regional championship this past fall. She’s competed in track for her first two seasons and was a Class 1A state placer in both the pole vault and triple jump last spring despite having to compete in both events at virtually the same time.
 

 
After playing basketball in junior high, Weiser opted not to play in high school to focus on gymnastics, but instead found herself becoming a cheerleader for her first two winters. When she gave that up after last year, wrestling came into the picture with there never being any intention to give that sport a try.
 
“I work as a CNA (certified nurse assistant) and at the local pharmacy, so it was really hard for me to get into the weight room during the times they had allotted,” she said. “I found out that the wrestling team was lifting in the evenings and it fit in perfectly with my schedule. So I thought I’d go and get a lift in while they were there. Then I got talked into it because they said, ‘If you’re going to lift with us, just come practice with us.’ I said I’d go to one practice and I ended up enjoying it. The type of strength and flexibility you use is similar to gymnastics. I grew up on that so I always strive to find that same feeling. It’s intense, definitely, and so different than what I thought it would be. But I’ve succeeded at it and really enjoyed it too.”
 
“I think Lillie surprised everyone in the community when they heard she was wrestling,” Merriman said. “She is a gymnast and Miss Pottawatomie Pageant winner, so not your typical wrestler characteristics. We gave her the invitation and said if she hated it, we wouldn’t bother her anymore. She gave it a try and took the challenge.”
 
Ahh yes, Weiser is a pageant queen, having won the Miss Pottawatomie County Fair contest following her freshman year. She had grown up attending the pageant with her grandmother when she was young but never really imagined herself competing.
 
Yet when the opportunity presented itself, as she always does, she jumped at the chance. She ended up becoming the youngest girl to win the pageant.
 
“I was just a little 15-year-old that didn’t think she had a chance of winning,” she said. “I came to the studio and there were a bunch of really pretty, older girls there and it was scary. But it ended up being really fun and they were all so nice and I’m still good friends with a lot of them and talk to them regularly. It’s another one of those close-knit things I enjoyed.
 
“There was scholarship money involved and it was going to be good experience for the future.”
 

 
In addition to her athletic endeavors at Onaga, Weiser’s resume basically reads like a directory of what Onaga offers for extra-curricular activities at the school.
 
She’s been involved in:

• Student government for three years, serving as class secretary as a freshman, as well as two years in student council
• Future Farmers of America club for two years
• Officer in the Future Business Leaders of America club for two years
• A member of Onaga’s O Club, an athletic-based group that among other things helps raise funds for the Buffalo athletic programs
• Officer for Onaga’s National Honors Society
• Head organizer for the Cake Wednesday Club
• Three-year member of band, including the only member as a sophomore, receiving a 1 rating at regionals and state on the alto saxophone in 2023
• A Model United Nations Officer
• State Forensics qualifier in prose in 2024
• Yearbook staff member for three years and editor this year

 
But the activity that speaks most to Wesier is her involvement in Kansas Association for Youth (KAY). Onaga has a strong membership at its school with more than 50% participation in KAY and Weiser said her introduction to the club had a profound impact on her.
 
Particularly after attending her first KAY camp at Rock Springs Ranch outside Junction City between her freshman and sophomore years.
 
“It was life-changing,” she said. “That’s where all the shyness from little Lillie went away. It was a fun place to be and everyone was themselves. You didn’t meet anyone who was still in their shell after the first day.”
 
While it may be hard to imagine Weiser having a single shy bone in her body given her willingness to put herself out there across multiple platforms, she insists that she “used to be the shyest kid” when she was in grade school and even coming up through middle school.
 
That’s clearly changed and Weiser credits her KAY experience for sparking the transformation into the go-getter leader that she’s already become at Onaga.
 
“You would not recognize me back then and it’s been an interesting jump from me then to now,” she said. “Being involved in a lot of things, and especially KAY, has allowed me to blossom as a person. Having some close-knit communities has allowed me to show my true colors and allowed me to comfortable being myself around people.
 
“I love that it’s giving back and the connections I’ve made. When I’m able to be social and myself and give back to the community and whole world with the service projects we do, it’s an incredible feeling. I’m not doing it for myself, I’m doing it for other people. When you enjoy what you’re doing it feels good to give back and it makes it more pleasurable and you want to pursue more with it.”
 

 
Weiser became Onaga’s KAY president last year after serving at the club’s Service to World Committee leader in which she organized a coin drive to raise money for Heifer International, an organization that fights world hunger. She repurposed that coin drive last year around Valentine’s Day with the proceeds from that service event going to Level the Playing Field, a charitable organization which provides sporting equipment to under-resourced communities.
 
This year, she organized a Bingo Night at RedBud Plaza Assisted Living, providing the elderly residents an engaging activity with several members of the club and filling a void after the facility’s activity director had resigned. She worked closely with the local Knights of Columbus organization to use their bingo equipment and procured prizes for the winners.
 
All those projects have been well-received by the members of the club and Weiser shared the credit with her fellow members, who helped spark the ideas and carried them out.
 
“Sometimes you have to know how to delegate tasks when you’re as busy as I am,” she said. “I used to want to just do it all. I felt the only way to get things done right was to do them myself. That did not last long at all. There are so many helpful people in this world who are willing to help me and are able to help me and I can’t do everything myself, nor should I try.
 
“Learning how to delegate was definitely a challenge, but I’m glad I learned it earlier than later.”
 
KAY club sponsor Marcia Labbe said she’s seen Weiser grow immensely in that area and her ability to relate with her peers, and others, has made her leadership in the club even greater.
 
“One of those things I appreciate about her is her mature kindness and acceptance of other kids,” Labbe said. “She tries her best to make people feel included and a part of what is going on and in turn they recognize her as a caring person who gives her all to whatever she does. It’s that altruistic trait that she has, recognizing that people have a variety of needs and that there’s also a variety of ways to contribute.
 
“She’s just so intelligent and can see the big picture and wants to take on everything she can. We’ve had several conversations through the years about finding balance, prioritizing self-care. She has a lot of ambitions and a lot of good ideas and certainly pushes herself athletically and academically. It’s been a joy to watch her grow and use different strategies to find that balance.”
 
Some of that balance was approached this year when Weiser was debating as to whether she should seek the position of Area 3 President for Kansas KAY. She had formed a strong relationship with previous area president Morgan Allen of Centralia and felt it was a path she wanted to follow.
 
But knowing everything else she had on her plate, Weiser wasn’t sure if the timing was right.
 
“It was a huge decision,” she said. “I told Ms. Labbe I wasn’t sure how I was going to take on this undertaking because it’s a lot more than I thought it would be. She told me to line my tasks up, and once I did that I knew I could do it. It seemed like a lot at first, but once I realized it’s spread out a little more throughout the year it seems a little more manageable.”
 
Weiser has never been afraid of a challenge, for sure.
 
While she was still in middle school, the math curriculum wasn’t advanced enough for her. So in seventh grade, Kocher pulled her out and began giving her advanced lessons to the point that as a junior she’s already finishing up her calculus curriculum, having breezed through algebra and trigonometry.
 

 
She’s also taken on independent studies in biology and other sciences. When she was the only student interested in band a year ago, she continued that as an independent study, alternating it with Spanish lessons.
 
“My teachers have supported and challenged me in every way possible,” she said. “I am so thankful and appreciative that my teachers have allowed me to be me and do some of the extra things I’ve wanted to do. It helps that they’ve been teaching here for a long time and that they love what they do and their school and are always willing to help. Teaching is their passion and that’s what makes the best teachers.
 
“It’s definitely helped that they’ve had that passion along with me. Just being allowed to be able to do this stuff and not being held back by anyone or anything has allowed me to grow in ways that a lot of other kids don’t have the opportunity to and I’m so thankful for that.”
 
Which the staff at Onaga said is a no-brainer decision given all the ways that Weiser has contributed to making the school as a whole better.
 
She’s just one of those dream kids that does everything you ask her to do,” Kocher said. “She just goes above and beyond in the math world, the science world and pretty much anything she does. We do have other kids that have that same drive and desire, maybe not to the extent that Lillie does. That drive to suck in as much as you can while you’re here, and we’ve tried to drive that.”
 
Brian Sixbury is in his first year as principal and athletic director at Onaga and though he’s only been on the job a relatively short time, he acknowledged that it didn’t take more than a first meeting to realize Weiser was different.
 
“Over the summer, our district admin team helped work the concession stand at the fair and Lillie was one of the students that helped out as well,” he said. “It already showed me that she was someone who was responsible, doing something outside of the school year to help benefit the school and community. In those first couple of interactions, I already knew that she was someone who not only was driven, but also someone capable of getting things done and doing so in a professional and reasonable manner.”
 
He gets to see that professionalism and responsibility on almost a daily basis as Weiser fills in for the office secretary during her lunch break. Sixbury said he’s able to have the same conversations with Weiser as he does the secretary and knows that the office is in good hands when she’s “in charge.”
 
Miller said that Weiser has “perfectionistic tendencies” and Weiser won’t argue that description one bit. In fact, she embraces it.
 
“I am a little bit of a perfectionist,” she said. “Not to the extreme, but to the point where it carries over into every aspect of my life. My dad’s a doctor and my mom’s a nurse, so being in the medical field they have to do things precisely. But I wouldn’t say that my type of perfectionism has come from theirs.
 
“I keep mentioning gymnastics, but in that sport you’re striving for a perfect score every time. So that’s what I’ve always tried to do in whatever I’m doing. … My standards are very high anyway. I just want to be the best that I can be. That means putting the work into everything I do. I’m not going to join something just to say that I did it. I’m going to put effort into it and do something good with it.”
 
When asked what Weiser meant to Onaga High School, he somewhat jokingly responded, “Gosh, how long do you have?” But at the same time, he was dead serious.
  
“What she means to this school and the amount of things Lillie does to improve not just the school, but different athletics and activities is immeasurable,” he said. “She such a great role model for everyone here. She’s one of those that her only limit is herself. And right now, she’s challenging herself on all different fronts. It will be interesting to see how much further she can go because I know what potential she currently has.”
 
Miller echoed that sentiment.
 
“The world is Lillie’s,” she said. “She’s innovative and she’s not afraid of a challenge. If there’s an experience out there that she hasn’t had, she’s going to go for it. She wants to learn as much as she possibly can.
 
“She’s going to do tremendous things because of that mentality of ‘I’m going to get this done and I’m going to do my best.’ She will achieve so much and it will be so much fun to see what she does in her life’s path.”
 
That path still has plenty of miles left at Onaga where she will continue to add to her legacy during a highly-anticipated senior year. But when it comes to her legacy, Weiser hopes it’s one that speaks to those who are willing to put themselves out there, no matter how much or little that might be.
 
“I would like to leave the legacy that anyone can do anything that they set their mind to and that it doesn’t take a certain type of person to be great at something,” she said. “I’ve always loved trying new things, so that always brings me enjoyment and that’s important. Find something you really enjoy and everything you do try, find some enjoyment in it somewhere.”