Lyons National Honor Society hosted Miss Kansas as she talked about the SAFE program which is Seatbelts are for everyone. The attendance was both Lyons High School and Middle School.
On June 10, 2023, Courtney Wages of Wichita, Kansas was crowned Miss Kansas 2023.
Courtney is a graduate of Wichita State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical
Theater and a minor in Dance. She explained the process of the Miss Kansas pageant. What started as a joke with her roommates, turned into winning Miss Kansas on her 4th try. She will
participate in Miss America in February.
The crown has four points that represent style, service, scholarship, and success. She
challenged the students to find success in their failures. “When you fail, you have an
opportunity to learn. If you learn, you succeed. It’s that simple. Embrace the failures and get
better.” She also learned through her experiences as Miss Kansas created and gained
confidence as well as career readiness experience. It’s never too early to start thinking and
planning for your future schooling through scholarships.
Courtney's community service initiative is One Vision is Not the Only Vision. Her focus for this
initiative is to educate communities about the importance of vision health and provide tools
and resources for all to navigate their way through life. Miss Kansas travels throughout the
state working closely with the Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks, Kansas Department of Transportation, Lead for America, and Envision, Inc., providing education.
She is also advocating for blind and visually impaired (BVI) communities during her year as Miss Kansas. She taught 5 tips on how to work with vision impaired.
1. Introduce yourself every time.
2. Describe areas in clear detail.
3. Avoid making assumptions of any kind.
4. Use people-first language.
5. Vision loss is not a tragedy.
To wrap up her presentation, the student body pledged to:
My life and the lives of others are more important than the distractions around me.
I will get rid of distractions while driving and ask my friends to do the same.
I will wear my seatbelt at ALL times and require my passengers to do the same.
All lives are valuable, and I will protect all on and off the road.  Thank you for sharing
your talents and visiting Lyons High and Middle School.