Trail Blazer Day

On Saturday, August 26th, the Lebanon Trail Parent Teacher Student Association, or P-T-S-A, held the first annual Trail Blazer Day on campus at the football field to show the community what Lebanon Trail has to offer as a high school. Trail Blazer Day is an event centered around new, old, and future Trail Blazers. From 9 AM to 12 PM families from all around the community were invited to see various athletic and fine arts groups show their school spirit. People also participated in games and contributed to a canned food drive by the Frisco Family Services Food Bank. Students of Lebanon Trail were able to purchase yearbooks, join clubs and organizations, and purchase spirit wear.

The day started with the Lebanon Trail choir and orchestra performing the Star Spangled Banner.

When asked about his students’ performance, Mr. Buntyn, the choir teacher, stated, “Yeah, the kids did a great job today. I mean, they came out in full force. It was a great sound. It’s really hard to sing outside, and so I was super impressed with them and all the great stuff they did.”

After that, different fine art groups performed, including theater, the Emerald Elites, band, and the cheerleaders.

Throughout the rest of the event, many kiosks and tables were set up to play games. These activities kept many staff members and students entertained throughout the event. Many of the students, freshman and sophomore, took part in running the booths.

“Probably yelling for ‘Go to the LTHS theatre booth to get your face painted.’ That was very well the majority of my time spent,” mentioned LTHS sophomore volunteer Cade Conboy.

There was a place to go to learn about almost every club or organization here at Lebanon Trail.

“The thing that has been the most fun for me today is to get on my megaphone and  pump these people up, and let them know about theatre, and about Trail Blazer pride, and how we are a big family up in here, and we love it,” Mr. Hollomon, the theatre teacher, said.

Sports teams were represented as well as fine arts.

“Actually, I was volunteering for Trail Blazer Tennis,” LTHS freshman volunteer Tanisha Grewal explained.

“We have all fantastic clubs.” Mr. Hollomon presented LTHS sophomore Sai Mangipudi and explained that one student can be a part of many things. “We have Sai here. He’s in multiple organizations, he’s been in leads in a lot of shows, but he’s also an active member in band,” he continued.

There was even an inflatable water slide and a dunking booth.

“Well, honestly, watching Coach Wieller get dunked,” LTHS sophomore Katy Baker said. “That’s been pretty cool.”

Different teachers were up for dunking during the day, much to the pleasure of the attendees.

“The funnest thing was definitely sitting in the dunk tank,” said Coach Wieller. There, teachers stayed dry at the mercy of their students. “My clothes are still soaked. I made the mistake of not bringing an extra set of clothes.”

Trail Blazer Day had a great turnout, and we interviewed the president of the P-T-S-A, Rose Crayton, to see how they organized the event.

“Trail Blazer Day is intended to include all the programs here at Lebanon Trail High School, and so we’ll have something for the community because we want the community to know what a great school this is,” she explained, continuing to list all of the activities at Trail Blazer Day. “We’re really happy too to be able to include the Frisco Family Services. We will be doing a canned food drive for them, and so our students can give back to the community.”

The P-T-S-A had a huge role in organizing this event, meeting over the summer to plan Trail Blazer Day for the students and community around Frisco ISD. Ms. Crayton continued, “One of the main goals of the P-T-S-A is to help every student realize their potential. We want to advocate for students, for children, and for programs that will help them. And so, the P-T-S-A is a very collaborative organization. We are here at the invitation of the principal, and so he wants to definitely have parent involvement just as parents want to be able to give back to the schools and enhance their childrens’ education.”