March 2019 • Volume 86 • Issue 2
Augusta High School • 2020 Ohio, Augusta, KS 67010 • 316-775-5462 • orioleonline.com • @AugustaHSnews • AHSnewspaper@usd402.com
Guest speaker Dombo shares inspirational story Gracie Johnston Reporter Derby resident Julie Dombo was shot during an armed robbery in Derby AT&T store August 2015. Due to blood loss, Dombo became a quadruple amputee. Dombo visited social studies teacher Jeff Regier’s crime and American justice class Feb. 25 and shared her story. “At 9:30 in the morning you think you are safe in Derby, Kansas, but there was a robber, and I was the only one in the store,” Dombo said. “The robber came in waving his gun and saying ‘This is what you think it is. Everyone to the back.’” Dombo feared for her life and decided to tell the robber no. “I thought, if I go into that back room, he is going to do bad things and then kill me,” Dombo said. The robber James Michael Phillips, then raised his gun and shot Dombo twice. “You think when you get shot that you would just die,” Dombo said. However, Dombo fought for her life and made it out alive. “I looked at him and said, ‘You shot me’, and then I fell down,” Dombo said. Phillips then ran out of the store and was apprehended; Dombo was rushed to the hospital. Dombo was able to pull through and survive, but her quality of life would never be the same because she lost all four of her limbs due to blood loss. “My incident happened on Aug. 11, 2015 and on
Sept. 8 they amputated my arms. On Sept.10 they amputated my legs,” Dombo said. “All of the sudden, I realized I was going to have to live the rest of my life with no hands or feet.” Due to the loss of her hands and feet, Dombo was diagnosed with depression. “Depression hit hard, but I was so glad that I was alive,” Dombo said. Dombo often talks about the term fear and about what it means. “All of us have fear at times in our life,” Dombo said. “Fear can stand for ‘forget everything and run’ or it can stand for ‘face everything and rise’ and that is what I had to do.” Dombo had to relearn how to do everything. She had to relearn how to walk, how to eat, how to brush her teeth. The easy things became difficult. Dombo had friends who helped her make everything as easy as possible. One friend made an invention to help her work her phone. “I was trying to run my phone but couldn’t,” Dombo said. “I had no way of communicating with the outside world.” Despite all of the struggles Dombo was going to have to face she maintained a great attitude. “I really believe that if you fight your way through the fear, you become stronger on the other end. You just do,” Dombo said.
Phillips is serving 31 years in prison for attempted murder and robbery. After his time in Kansas is over he will also serve 23 years in a Tulsa prison for a robbery he committed in Oklahoma. Phillips will not be released until he is 80 years old. Teachers and students attended Dombo’s speech to hear about her inspirational story. Some students even went to the speech instead of class. “Mr. Regier had talked about Julie Dombo in class, and I really liked her story, so I knew that I couldn’t miss her speech when she came to the school,” Kourtney Divine (12) said. Divine was very inspired by Dombo’s story. “I enjoyed listening to her story, and it made me realize that no matter how hard a situation is, you can always get through it,” Divine said. Regier invited Dombo to the school. “The impact she had on the students was my favorite part,” Regier said. “It shows how much a person can persevere if they keep working at it and keep fighting for what is right.” Dombo inspired students and teachers with her story of overcoming impossible obstacles.
Photo by Gracie Johnston
Blessing Boxes aid town JAG-K visits McConnell Air Base for class fieldtrip Sydnee Kuhn Reporter
Blessing Box are wooden boxes found around town that volunteers create and stock items such as toiletries and food. A Blessing Box in Augusta is located on 1409 Ohio St. The article, “A box filled with blessing” from The Butler County Times-Gazette states that real estate
This Blessing Box is located on Ohio street near Casey’s General store. It is available to anyone who needs anything from it, as well as all other Blessing Boxes. Photo by Aubrey Stueven
agent Heather Holmes has fulfillment when she helps others with supplies and happiness. She and her husband wanted to put a box on a property they own, but they wanted ta witchita boy to help them. “His Facebook page indicated that he had more than 40 boxes. That’s why I didn’t just build my own. I thought it was cool to have him help,” Holmes said. Nine year old Paxton and his family created Paxton’s Blessing Boxes. Paxton and his mother Maggie Ballard have been fundraising, so they could keep over 40 Blessing Boxes full of supplies. Maggie found the useful idea on a social media app in August 2016 and shared it with Paxton. “It’s great to know that you can help someone in a small way,” Holmes said. Paxton’s donation site encourages citizens to donate and help out others. “Anyone can donate at any time, and anyone can take at any time. we just say take only what you need. It’s a free little pantry. I personally check the box every other day to see if it needs to be filled and quite often it does,” Holmes said. The family has kept the local blessing boxes stocked thanks to the community and the donations.
Daniel Doel Reporter Members of JAG-K toured McConnell Air Force Base, in Wichita on Wednesday, March 6. The tour was the first of its kind; bringing a large group of students to visit the base. Sergeant Matthew Laxton contacted JAG-K specialist Christy Pray, asking if she would like to bring the group on a tour of the base. The tour aimed to show the students what happens at McConnell and the occupational opportunities they provide. “He wanted us to get an overall sense of what the Air Force does there, primarily the Air Force Guard and the advantages of being in it,” Pray said. The students were lead around the base through various facilities. One facility was the intel room where they learned about McConnell’s importance to cybersecurity. “We saw a lot of cybersecurity stuff; that’s literally all McConnel does,” Jacob Gillis (11) said. McConnell accounts for a good portion of the United States Air Force cybersecurity. “It runs 50 percent of the Air Force [cybersecurity],” Devin Barker (10) said.
Many of their resources are spent on enforcing this. McConnell regularly hires professional hackers and coders to try and break into the servers to test their strength. “They have one room probably as large as my classroom that’s just for servers,” Pray said. Among other facilities, the students also toured a mobilization unit. “We also went out to their mobilizing unit. We went into a tent where they can quickly mobilize they and could communicate between the ground and planes in the air,” Pray said. In the tent, JAG-K students did what someone working in the unit would experience. They were able to wear headsets and interact with the various monitors. McConnell has not permitted tours for large numbers of students, and many of the students were excited. “We felt very honored to be escorted around and shown these behind the scenes,” Pray said. Overall, it was fun for the students, having made many memories. “My highlight would be when Sheldon got his phone forcibly removed” Gillis said, “It was hilarious.” While following all rules at the base, students still managed to share moments with their peers.