LLC Since 2006
Aiming for Greatness The 4-H Shooting Sports Club in Gila County has tripled enrollment in the program which includes archery equipment, pneumatic arms and firearms Story by Patti Daley Photos by LCGross
A year ago, there was no 4-H Shooting Sports Club in Gila County. Today the club boasts a roster of 35 kids and a waiting list. Nine of the kids are state medalists and three will compete at the 2023 Nationals, the last week in June. “It was amazing how fast we could get it going,” says AJ Schaible, 17, “and amazing how fast we were able to get to this competitive level.” The 17-year-old Miami High junior qualified for the Arizona national team in three events. He’s also a youth leader for the 4-H shooting club and its co-founder. “Without AJ we would not have shooting sports,” says Carol Ptak, a 4-H leader inspired by his interest and initiative.
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Teaching Kids About Guns “It’s important to teach people what a gun is and what it can do and what happens when you do something wrong with it,” says AJ. Mindy Teague supervises while Draydin Sullivan takes aim at the target.
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See SPORTS CLUB Page 32
Miami High School enters a new era with the departure of Principal Glen Lineberry Story by David Abbott. Photos by LCGross
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The new track around the refurbished football field on the campus of Miami High School is a visual reminder of the stabilizing effect solid, long-term leadership can bring to an institution, and under the guidance of Glen Lineberry and Dr. Sherry Dorathy, the school has recaptured some of the shine that made it one of the best schools in the state for many years. Lineberry’s nine-year tenure at the helm of MHS will end at the beginning of June, but he leaves behind a school that is measurably better than the one he walked into nearly a decade ago. It took a few years to build momentum for change, but once that happened the work toward improving the academics and culture of the school really took off. “The first thing we did was to sit down and consider what it is we needed to provide our students within the long-term and answer the question, ‘when they graduate, what have we given them?’” Lineberry says of his early days as principal. “What we settled on is that the
Lineberry leaves MHS better prepared for the future thanks to his work over the last nine years. students we graduate need to be literate: Not just with literacy skills, but a habit of literacy because reading isn’t just decoding letters and words, it’s being habituated to gathering information and communicating it well.”
Before that could happen, the Miami Unified School District rolled up its sleeves and began a concerted effort to rehabilitate a building that has been in use since 1967.
LINEBERRY, Continued on page 34