News

Strong schools begin with strong leadership.

That belief was on full display Thursday as Elizabethtown Independent Schools brought together its administrative team for a full day of professional learning focused on strengthening leadership capacity, building trust, and creating a shared vision for the future.

Held at the EIS Central Office, the training was facilitated by FranklinCovey consultant Desiree Cocroft and centered on The 4 Essential Roles of Leadership, a framework designed to help leaders build trust, create direction, execute strategy, and develop the potential of those around them.

Elizabethtown Independent Schools is making a bold investment in the future of its students. T.K. Stone Middle School will soon launch Paxton/Patterson College & Career Ready Labs, bringing immersive, hands-on career exploration to seventh and eighth graders and giving them tools to discover their passions long before they walk across a graduation stage.

What started as a class project is now a permanent fixture at one of Elizabethtown's most beloved outdoor spaces.

A group of Elizabethtown High School engineering students has completed the Power Bench — a solar-assisted, pedal-powered charging station — and it is now installed and open for public use at Freeman Lake Park. Visitors who need to charge a phone or tablet can sit at the bench, pedal for a few minutes of light exercise, and power their device, all without leaving the park.

The project has been years in the making, and the story behind it is as impressive as the bench itself.

Everything was new to Diego Sanchez.

New school. New language. New country.

When Diego and his family moved from Mexico to Elizabethtown, he arrived at Elizabethtown High School as a sophomore who didn't speak English, didn't know anyone, and wasn't sure what came next.

"It was really hard," Diego said. "Everything was new. I didn't have any friends. I couldn't talk to them because it was a new language. I didn't know what to do."

He remembers sitting with the uncertainty of it, wanting to learn, wanting to connect, but not yet having the tools.

"When you get here, you are negative and don't want to learn a new language, and you don't have friends or know how to talk to your teachers," he said. "I knew I would like to be an engineer, but I didn't know who to talk to or how to get started."

There’s something different about this year’s EIS Theatre Guild production.

It’s faster. It’s louder. It’s unpredictable.

And if everything goes according to plan… it might even feel a little out of control.

That’s exactly the point.

EIS Theatre Teacher Pacey Hammond and his students are preparing to bring “Disorder in the Court” by Brianna Dehn to life. The show is April 23-24 at 6 p.m. at the Elizabethtown Performing Arts Center. It’s an interactive, high-energy comedy that invites the audience to do more than just watch.

It asks them to decide.

Kentucky State Representative Steve Bratcher, R-Elizabethtown, might have summed up Friday’s ExCEL Award Ceremony the best.

During his remarks, Bratcher said there are events who won’t be remembered years from now, but Elizabethtown Independent Schools will remember T.K. Stone Middle School math teacher Chris Appelman won the 2025-26 ExCEL Award.

That sentiment set the tone for a powerful and emotional celebration at the Elizabethtown Performing Arts Center, where Appelman, an outstanding educator known for his passion, drive, and commitment to students, was recognized in front of family, friends, special guests, and the entire student body.

In classrooms across Elizabethtown Independent Schools, new ideas are taking shape, creativity is being unleashed, and students are experiencing learning in new and meaningful ways—all thanks to the continued investment of the Elizabethtown Educational Fund.

For the second time this school year, the EEF has awarded Go Big E Grants, placing resources directly into the hands of teachers and into the heart of classrooms. These grants are designed to go beyond traditional funding, empowering educators to bring innovative, hands-on experiences to life for their students.

This latest round of funding reached 28 classrooms across the district, totaling more than $24,000 and impacting students from preschool through middle school. It builds on a previous round of grants awarded in December, reinforcing a commitment to sustained support throughout the year.

There are moments in a community’s story when the past and the future stand side by side. At T.K. Stone Middle School, that moment is happening now.

Originally opened in 1954 and named after former Superintendent Talton K. Stone, who led the district from 1953-71, the school has long been a cornerstone of Elizabethtown Independent Schools. Generations of students have walked its halls. Now, more than 70 years later, those same halls are being transformed to serve the next generation of Panthers.

The $22.6 million renovation project marks the third major update to the school’s classroom spaces, following previous renovations in 1993 and 2003. But this project is not simply an update. It is a reimagining of what a middle school can be.

For Chris Appelman, the journey to becoming Elizabethtown Independent Schools’ ExCEL Award winner began in a classroom. Not as a teacher, though. It began as a student.

A 2010 graduate of Elizabethtown High School, Appelman once walked the same hallways as the students he now teaches. He learned from educators who shaped his confidence, challenged his thinking, and inspired his future. Today, he stands at the front of a classroom at T.K. Stone Middle School, carrying that same impact forward.

Now, that journey has come full circle.

Elizabethtown High School senior Rush Clagett is accustomed to standing before an audience. As a longtime member of the school band, he has performed in front of crowds for years. But stepping onto the stage to recite poetry — without an instrument in hand — was an entirely new experience.

“The stress of performing was the same,” Clagett said. “I want to do well in front of everyone. That’s pretty much the same.”

That familiar drive to perform at his best carried him all the way to the state stage, where Clagett earned a second-place finish at the Kentucky Poetry Out Loud competition held at the Farish Theater at the Lexington Public Library. His achievement marks the second consecutive year an Elizabethtown student has placed runner-up in the statewide contest, following Jocelyn Trejo-Zetina’s second-place finish last year, a testament to the growing strength of the arts at Elizabethtown High School.