Even though Jodi Grover has only been principal at Wamego High School for less than a year, there are no shortages of glowing adjectives that pop into her mind when describing Skylar Schoenbeck.
 
Compassionate. Mature. Caring. Transformational.
 
Yet even in heaping one superlative after another into her praise of Wamego’s student body president, there’s one word that Grover consistently circled back to that she deemed the most fitting.
 
“She’s just genuine,” Grover said. “I can’t say that word enough. It’s not fake. It’s not, ‘I’m trying to get through high school.’ Every moment of her life is a genuine moment that she’s enjoying. She’s just a true genuine person.
 
“Her just genuine compassion for life and individuals and what she gives back to the community and everything she does just blows me out of the water. Goodness.”
 
Whether through her leadership as Wamego’s STUCO president to performing in both the athletic and musical arenas to even to her dedication in caring for the elderly outside of school, Schoenbeck has maintained a consistent approach to her life.
 
“I hope when people think about me they think about the light I left behind and the light I’ll take with me wherever I go,” she said. “Whether it’s in church, sports, my clubs, whatever. I hope they know the true me and that’s not doing things to benefit myself, but doing things to benefit others.”
 
Schoenbeck is this week’s CapFed® True Blue® Student of the Week.
 
Grover hadn’t even started in her new position at Wamego High School before knowing there was something special about Schoenbeck. When she was interviewing for the principal job, Grover took notice of a student on the interview committee whose demeanor caught her attention immediately.
 
“That first initial impression was that she was a very mature individual,” Grover said. 
 
From there, it was like peeling back an onion in terms of what laid beneath the surface.
 
“She’s very actively involved and wants to do good for the Red Raiders,” Grover said. “Then you start to see what she does and it’s just amazing. it’s like, ‘Oh, she’s in all the musicals.’ And then I go into a room for observation and she’s in our High Voltage and choir classes. And she’s a great athlete. And the STUCO president. It just keeps going.”
 
And driving it all is that genuineness that Grover raves about.
 
“Just the network of people that flock around her because she has that quality about her,” Grover said. “She’s one that has the best interests of all students at heart and you see the kids really respond to that.”
 
“That maybe is something I’ve always have had, that welcoming personality,” Schoenbeck said. “Other students, my peers, can really come up and talk to me about anything they think needs to be done. I like to think that I’m a person people can see and know they’re doing things correctly. I would say the whole school, they know I’m not a person who’s not scary to come talk to. I have a strong welcoming presence and others see that.”
 
If there was any doubt that Schoenbeck had a leadership quality about her, it was answered pretty early in her life. Like seriously early.
 
“Since Day 1. My parents said I came out strong-willed,” Schoenbeck said. “I’ve always been ready to get things done. That might make me a pain in the butt sometimes, but once I wanted something I would not back down until I got it.”
 
Another aspect of Schoenbeck’s life also surfaced at a very early age. In fact, Schoenbeck jokes that instead of saying her first words, she sang them.
 
She’s never stopped singing and has become an accomplished vocalist both within the halls of Wamego High School and beyond.
 

 
A member of High Voltage, Wamego’s selection ensemble, she’s been a leading voice for the group and has helped it to multiple I ratings at the KSHSAA State Music Festival throughout her career. She’s also received I ratings for solo performances at state as well as part of a trio.
 
“It didn’t take many times for me hearing her sing to know, ‘OK, she’s got an incredible voice,’” said Wamego vocal music director Jamie Rogers, who is in just his second year at the school. “There’s not a lot of Skylars. We’ve got a lot of talented kids, but nothing like her. I’ve seen maybe in 20 years, two other students that remind me of that type of leader. She’s one of those kids that does everything at a whole other level.”
 
It’s not an uncommon sight to see Schoenbeck perform the National Anthem at a Wamego sporting event. And that led to something even bigger.
 
Last year at Rogers’ encouragement, Schoenbeck took her anthem performance to a much bigger stage. Kauffman Stadium.
 
“Mr. Rogers, said ‘Hey Skylar, try this! Send in your audition to sing at the (Kansas City) Royals game,’” she said. “So I did that and I got a call-back to go sing in front of a panel of judges. I went in that room as scared as could be. I didn’t think I did very good, but I got a call back and they said, ‘You’re performing in April.’ I wasn’t expecting it, but I was excited.”
 
Schoenbeck sang the National Anthem ahead of the Royals’ April 5 game against the Baltimore Orioles. As if that wasn’t a big enough day already, she spent the morning of the game competing at the KSHSAA Solos and Small Ensembles State Festival in Manhattan, singing a solo, trio and with High Voltage before racing to Kauffman Stadium for her major league debut.
 
“I was terrified,” she said. “Just looking at all the people there around me I tried not to think about it. It was terrifying, but a great experience.”
 

 
Clearly comfortable on that stage, Schoenbeck finds plenty of comfort performing no matter what the stage is. In addition to her vocal talents, she picked up playing the guitar early in her musical career and has added song writing to her musical resume as well.
 
Schoenbeck has written two songs that she has performed during appearances she’s made at the Brandt House Hotel in Alma and in opening for Rick Cook Band at a concert in Abilene last year. She’ll open for Logan Mize this summer in Alma.
 
The songs she’s written are personal. I Hope He Knows is about her relationship with her father, Matt. She also has an untitled song she’s written about her grandfather, Jim.
 
A third song is in the works as well and will be finished soon. It has to be as she’s writing it to perform at her high school graduation.
 
“It’s been emotional and difficult, but it’s definitely worth it and I love every minute of it,” Schoenbeck said of her graduation song called Class of 2026. “Sometimes (writing songs) comes naturally and sometimes it doesn’t. It really depends on the day. I wrote the song about my dad and that one I wrote in about two days, which was really quick for me. It’s my favorite song I’ve written.
 
“I definitely think I’ve always wanted to be an entertainer.”
 
That’s not just limited to singing, but also performing. Schoenbeck has performed in a high school musical at Wamego each of her four years – All Shook Up (freshman), Honk! (sophomore), Shrek the Musical (junior) and She Loves Me (senior). Long before reaching high school, she had her first musical theater performance in the community theater in Wamego in the Little Mermaid, performing alongside her older sister, Emma.
 
In some, she’s held a lead role; others more of a supporting role. No matter what the role is, Wamego drama/forensics teacher Jennifer Topliff said Schoenbeck excels.
 
“Skylar is a leader both on stage and behind the scenes,” Topliff said. “She's willing to throw herself all the way into a role, whether it's a Mother Hen, Pinocchio in Shrek, or a flirtatious lady, looking for love in all the wrong places. Her unmatched talent, work ethic, and built-in ability to encourage others has elevated our musical productions. 

“Skylar is the definition of directable. She seeks ways to make her performances better and takes instruction and constructive criticism beautifully. She often modeled that for others, helping her peers become better performers, as well. During the long rehearsals of tech week, we could always count on Skylar to be focused, funny, and ready to encourage others.”
 

 
She’s honed that talent by attending a musical camp in Nashville each of the past two summers. 
 
“It’s one of my favorite things that I love to do and if I have the opportunity to do it again I would,” Schoenbeck said. “When my sister and I did that together, it was something I loved doing with her and showed me how awesome theater can be.”
 
In addition to the performance itself, Schoenbeck relishes the relationships she makes in that arena.
 
“It’s just getting to know other people that aren’t in sports or the other activities I’m involved with,” Schoenbeck said. “I’m lucky that I get to have a lot of different niches and get to meet all different types of people.”
 
Though it seems natural that Schoenbeck would pursue a performing arts career in college, it will take a bit of a backseat to her athletic endeavors. Schoenbeck has signed to throw the javelin for Creighton, having set Wamego’s school record in the event with a career-best throw of 132 feet, 6 inches coming last year in a third-place finish in Class 4A at the State Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
 
“It was definitely a difficult decision,” she said. “I knew I wanted to go throw in college. Music is something to me that I’ll have for the rest of my life. If I plan to pursue music sometime in my life, I’ll have that opportunity. But I wouldn’t have that same opportunity for throwing and I knew I wanted to throw for the next four years in college. If I just have four years left of that, that’s all I have and I didn’t want to regret not pursuing something. Omaha will have a lot of live music opportunities so hopefully I’ll get to play some there.”
 

 
Ironically, throwing the javelin was something Schoenbeck initially was completely against in middle school. A softball player growing up, she had planned on continuing that sport when she reached high school.
 
But with the sport not offered at the middle school level in Kansas, Schoenbeck was nudged in the direction of track by her mother, Erika.
 
“In seventh grade my mom said ‘Skylar, you have to try the javelin,’” Schoenbeck said. “I said ‘No, I don’t want to try it.’ But I went out one day and told my coach that my mom said I have to try the javelin. I threw it and was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I love this. My mom was right, I guess she always is.’ In that moment, I was like, ‘OK, you’re right, I love it.’”
 
Her ability to admit when she’s wrong is something that’s allowed Schoenbeck to become the effective leader that she’s become at Wamego. 
 
Make no mistake, Schoenbeck has very strong opinions about what she wants to accomplish and how she wants to go about it. But instead of forcing those opinions on her peers, Schoenbeck instead seeks out their input and then processes all the information before formulating a plan.
 
“I think I’ve always tried to put myself in other peoples’ shoes,” she said. “Whenever I come up with an idea, that’s what I want to stick with. But I don’t do that. I make sure everybody can get their words out and listen to the best option. And usually I’m wrong and I admit that, which can be hard some times. But I’m not afraid of admitting I’m wrong. I just want things executed the way that works best for everybody based on what they think, not just what I think.”
 
That maturity hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Wamego faculty.
 
“She listens first and acts later,” Grover said. “She’s one of those that processes the information. It’s almost like she’s transformational with her leadership, inspiring change. So she listens to ideas, gives feedback, advocates.
 
“That’s what people appreciate about her. There’s no bad ideas and she leads them into motion. How can this be the best for everyone and how can we get teachers involved. That transformational piece is she’s inspiring positive change.”
 
Adam Topliff, Wamego’s Student Council sponsor and social science teacher, agreed.
 
“Her leadership style is to pull people in and let them feel their voices are being heard and validated,” Topliff said. “And then when making decisions or acting upon decision making, it’s with their thought and intent in mind, which is why people support her and why people are willing to do and work with her or rally around something she’s initiating. It’s because they know she’s coming from a place that is looking out for the best interest of all parties involved.
 
“Does that mean when she leads, is she going to get it right every time? Absolutely not. But that’s where her growth has come in. She’s grown as a leader because she’s willing to accept responsibility if something doesn’t quite go as planned and learn from it.”
 
Topliff’s son, Maddox, served as Wamego’s STUCO president last year with Schoenbeck following in his footsteps this year. And one of her main priorities this year was to follow through on an idea formulated by the previous officers, seeking to have more capacity for students at Wamego to feel like their voices were being heard in the district.
 
One of the goals was to add a student liaison to the USD 320 School Board of Education. While the student liaison wouldn’t have a voting presence, they would be able to interact with the board, bringing forth a voice from the student body and taking information from board meetings back to those students.
 
Previous student council presidents had fostered the idea but with changing administration at various levels in the district in recent years wasn’t able to effect change. But Schoenbeck made carrying out that vision a top priority during her tenure as president.
 
“She really wanted to see this come to fruition,” Adam Topliff said. “She took the lead in talking about the purpose behind it knowing full well that it would not be something she could do because it would come after she graduated. But she believed in it enough to want to advocate for it.
 
“We went to the school board and she stood up in support for it, articulated the reasons why and the importance of giving students a chance to feel their voices are being heard when decisions are being made by our school board. They were blown away with the points she brought up and because of that, the school board has voted to create an ad hoc position on the school board next year. She followed through with making sure the language was adopted into our constitution, so finishing it out and making sure it's ready to go. That’s one of things I’ll most identify as her legacy of being our president.”
 
“Those officers wanted to add that in and I really liked that idea,” Schoenbeck said. “I wanted to get that done this year because they weren’t able to do that last year. That was more of a ‘You came up with the idea, and I’ll carry it out and get it done.’
 
“It was definitely a goal to leave a legacy here. I wanted to not necessarily create change, but establish what past members of STUCO have done before. Creating change is a big thing and something you can do every year. This is the legacy that we have and I want to keep carrying it out.”
 
When she’s not busy performing, competing and leading at Wamego High School, Schoenbeck also works part-time at Heartland at Home Care, an organization in Wamego that provides non-medical care to senior citizens in their homes. Among the numerous services are companionship, which speaks to Schoenbeck on many levels.
 
“I love being that person for those people around me,” she said. “Working with the elderly has shown me a lot. It can be difficult working with older people and I work with a lot of dementia patients, but it’s very rewarding too.
 
“It’s really taught me a lot about myself. I know the older generation has gone through a lot more than I could imagine. It’s just really taught me to give it my all and not take things so easily and really work hard for things. Not everybody is given opportunities and if I’m given an opportunity I need to take it. It’s not a universal thing to be able to do the things I can say I’m proud to be able to do. Working with the elderly like I do, I love older people. It’s one of my favorite things to do, hang out with older people.”
 
That love has also led to Schoenbeck following in Emma’s footsteps in another realm. Wamego is one of the few high schools in the nation to be a member of the Honor Flight Network, a program that celebrates America’s veterans of wars and gives them the experience of honor, gratitude and support that they deserve.
 
In the program, students apply to be guardians who accompany veterans to Washington D.C. where they visit the different war memorials and share in their experiences. Just as Emma was a guardian twice during the program’s early years at Wamego, Skylar has been one as well throughout her high school career.
 
She’s gone on three different Honor Flights, the latest occurring from April 27-29.
 
“It’s a very cool experience to be able to do,” she said. “To give students the opportunity to honor their grandparents and those who have given their lives for this country was something Honor Flight has shone a light to.”
 

 
For Schoenbeck, it’s perhaps even more personal as her grandfather, Jim, was a Vietnam War veteran. On one of her three trips, Skylar got to honor his flag at the Vietnam Memorial. The idea was brought forth by sponsor Shawn Hornung after Skylar’s older brother, Bennett, was supposed to do a podcast with their grandfather about his experiences, but wasn’t able to as Jim passed away a week before it was supposed to occur.
 
“Especially with it being so close to home and knowing my grandpa never wanted to talk about his experiences in Vietnam, it just means so much,” she said. “Just giving those veterans the welcome home they never got means so much to me. It’s just something that I love. I’ve had three completely different veterans and we might go see the same things every time, but it’s a totally different experience. You just get to see things through their eyes and everyone is different so you get to experience it in different ways.”
 
Having had Schoenbeck as a student since middle school, Topliff said that she is very much the same person she was when he first began to know her and at the same time a markedly different one.
 
“There are things about her that have always been who she is as a person,” he said. “One of them is compassion, one of them is caring and the third is driven. Those have been with her consistently since she’s been in middle school.
 
“The things I’ve seen her grow is her confidence to be a leader, both as a silent lead as well as a vocal leader and her capacity as Student Council president has allowed herself to do that. Her leadership characteristics have really evolved and grown from where she was in middle school to now.
 
“I have been blessed with really great leaders in our student council, each bringing their own characteristics. Some very much are leaders in terms of letting others around them do the lifting and they will support them and there are others that will just lead. Skylar is a great combination of both. She is the one who will get in and do the things as a leader and also ask others to come alongside. Anything she asks of our student council or our student body, it’s not something that she wouldn’t do herself. Kids appreciate that about her, that she’s a kind, open, very inclusive person. They appreciate that she leads out of compassion and leads as a voice for all students. And that’s another part of her legacy, that she has been a student body president that is a president truly for all the student body, not just the cool kids, the popular kids or the athletes. Because of who she is she ensures that the fine arts, the other academic pieces, the FFA – they all feel like she represents their interests too. She’s a creative, talented girl who backs it up with hard work and being a great, well-rounded person. She’s one of the faces of our high school who will be hard to replace.”
 
Having set out to make a difference at Wamego, Schoenbeck has certainly accomplished that.
 
“I sure wanted to be a good leader and that’s something I’ve worked on throughout my life,” she said. “Everywhere I go I try to shine my light. I’m a very strong Christian person and I try to make that known wherever I go. I think that’s shown in my friend group, my athletics, music ability and all my clubs I’m involved with. I try to be that person that people know they can come and talk to no matter what they’re going through. I don’t care who they are or what they need, I just try to be there for them and I pride myself on that.
 
“That’s the leader that I wanted to be, get things done and be the person that people can count on. They know they can trust me.”