Note from the Editorial Staff: 

You might notice a few changes this week. Like the new student-designed masthead featuring the school's namesake, Katherine Anne Porter. Or the new section, Updates from the Board. Not everyone can get to the Monday board meetings, so the board will be sharing important news here to keep our community abreast of the ongoing changes as they are implemented. We even have a brand new KAPS website! And yes, our last issue was almost two weeks ago. We'll continue to publish at this rate through the end of May.

There has been a whirlwind of activity since Issue No. 5. The students had a fantastic prom night. We've got some first-person accounts and a landslide of photos to share. The Chefs' Dinner was a win on every front: a delectable meal, a sold-out dining hall, and a final fundraising tally that made it worth the effort.

Looking forward, KAPS has two more big events before the end of this semester, and fortunately, they continue to bring the FUN in FUNdraiser! As always, we need our community to spread the word, help out and show up. Who's ready for a Chili Cook Off and a Barn Dance?!

Issue No. 6 | April 14, 2022

Operation Support KAPS

Toques off to all our sponsors and the stars of the evening: The Chefs!

Coming together for KAPS: Chef Mark Grimes and Chef James Francis from Wimberley Supper Club, Chef Linda Allen, who came out of retirement to make her gumbo, Chef Robert Walczyk from Longleaf Craft Kitchen & Bar, and Chef Jay Bachman from Wimberley Cafe.

by Alicia Philley, Editor

So much work went into creating this scrumptious, and very successful, fundraising event. We want to thank everyone involved: The many sponsors who donated their skills, time, food, drinks, facilities, and raffle items; and the board members, parents, alumni and students who worked so diligently. The 200 dinners sold out before the first plate was served. We are so grateful to all the people who shared a meal with us while supporting the school. This is what community looks like. This is KAPS!

Student servers were ready to bring on the food. Photo credits: Alicia Philley, Sarah Fisher

Above: KAPS culinary club member, Jay Thompson, talks kitchen shop with Chef Linda Allen before the food plating frenzy begins.

Left: Jenny Bravo, board member and fundraiser extraordinaire.

KAPS teacher and parent, Tina Pennington, and Chef Linda Allen

KAPS students all gloved up and ready to serve the crowd of supporters.

It was a full house, and this was before we even started serving food!

Parents, board and committee members ready to plate your meal: Amy Majors, Steve Garmhausen, Christine Terrell, Paul Michels and Alicia Philley

KAPS parent, Rhonda Boatman, and her mom, Mary DeLaney, serving up sweets

Raffle winner, Dorothy Knight, won the Wimberley Zipline Adventures package for four prize.

Raffle winner, Nick Demaree (KAPS alum and son of teacher Teresa Russett), with the beautiful stained glass artwork of Tula Robbins.

Don’t miss this fun event, featuring live Western Swing from Big Cedar Fever - the members of which are all KAPS alumni, we’re proud to say!

SUNDAY • MAY 15 • 6-9 PM at Montesino Ranch

Barn Dance • Beverages • Silent Auction

Desserts & Coffee • More • Tickets $35 - BUY NOW!

All UPCOMING EVENTS

April 28 | Spring Open House, Chili Cook-off & Cupcake Wars, 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm

Make an amazing batch of chili? Here's your chance to score bragging rights! Sign up today to get your chance to face off with other chili chefs. Get more info here and share the link to buy tickets with friends, family and on social media. This is our chance to raise funds while showing off the KAPS dragon spirit to potential new students and their families!

May 7 | Market Days, KAPS Booth and Parking Lot Volunteers

It's the best time of year to go to the market, let's take advantage of the good weather and the growing crowd! We need 2-3 volunteers for each activity. Raise funds by selling plants at our booth, or help with parking cars. Or walk around the market, talk to people about KAPS and pass out flyers. Sign up here!

May 15 | Barn Dance at Montesino Ranch featuring Big Cedar Fever, 6 pm - 9 pm

Don't miss this fun event, featuring live Western Swing from Big Cedar Fever - an all KAPS alumni group, we are proud to say! Tickets on sale now! We also need volunteers (sign up here), and are accepting donations for the Silent Auction!

Seniors: "It was a really great last Prom!"

by Serina Shelby, 11th grade

Prom was such a great night. Everyone was so excited to see their friends all dressed up. For some people it was their first prom since we didn’t have one last year. A lot of former KAPS students came as well and it was great to have a chance to chat and catch up with them. 

We loved the Renaissance theme, even the employees at the venue were enjoying it. The story-book photo booth seemed to be a real highlight of the evening. You can see in the pictures how much fun we were having! Some of the teachers and parents came to help the staff set up and help with serving food. They are always working so hard to pull things together for us. 

We all had such a blast dancing. By the end of the night almost everyone was on the dance floor. Then we took a group picture with everyone together and it was a very beautiful moment. All the seniors felt like it was a really great last prom, which was so wonderful to see. I think everyone had a super fun night and I would say the night was really successful!

by Alisha Berber, PTSO president



The night went amazing. I’m so glad that the students gave me the opportunity to plan and experience this important night with them. It was so fun to see everyone dressed up, dancing, and having fun. We crowned all the seniors for the Prom Court with unique crowns for each of them. The Renaissance theme was really fun to work with, and the students getting to have fun and be themselves was the true pay-off!

This week our community sends out shiny dragon scales to three volunteers who keep showing up.

For Alisha Berber, PTSO President, Fundraising Committee KAPS parent & alum:

"Alisha has done so much to help KAPS, most recently she spearheaded organizing out Renaissance-themed Prom—our first dance since COVID. I'm so grateful this event happened and that she worked to get so many parents there to support a much needed student-centric social evening."

-Ms. Gasponi, Math Teacher

For Jenny Bravo, Board Member, Fundraising Committee leader and KAPS alum:

"She works her butt off! She always is the first to volunteer her efforts. She’s given us use of the amazing VFW hall multiple times. She’s just all around amazing, and deserves the recognition."

-Alisha Berber, PTSO President, Fundraising Committee member, KAPS parent and Alum

For Alicia Philley, editor of The Porter Reporter, Communications Committee and parent:

"She has been working day and night, behind the scenes, to pump out so much content for our newsletter. She does her best to take on any job that will help the students, and really tries to be flexible. I personally feel everyone should give her a big thanks."

-Jay Thompson, 9th grade, Communications Committee member, and senior reporter

The Dragon Scales section of The Porter Reporter is a space devoted to celebrating KAPS Dragons and the amazing teachers, administrators, and others who support them. We recognize members of our community for their positive contributions and invite you to participate!

Just fill out this Google Form to give a "dragon scale" to any KAPS teacher, staff, student or other community member.

(KAPS kids make the night extra special -article by Jay Thompson - continued)

I’d been to the VFW before, but it looked very different. The tables were arranged in zig-zags rather than the straight lines at bingo night. And they were arrayed with white table cloths, garlands and sunflowers. There were a lot of adults I didn’t know. I dropped my cookies off at the dessert table and then made a thank you sign for the entrance table. More volunteers kept showing up, including other students who were going to help serve.

When the chefs started to arrive, I was excited to get to work in the kitchen. KAPS chefs club students had planned to help them cook. But it turned out they had prepared everything in their own kitchens. Except for Chef Linda, who was almost finished with her gumbo. I was a little disappointed not to help, but I was also just happy to be involved. 

Mrs. Pennington, my teacher who was also volunteering, introduced me to the chefs and I got to shake their hands. It was nice to formally meet such talented people. They asked if I prefer being in a kitchen and I answered “yes,” so they said I should help in the kitchen instead of serving if I wanted. I did my best not to get in their way as they got set up. I was learning just by watching these skilled professionals. Before the serving started, there was a quick photo shoot. In the middle Chef Jay called me over to join them for a photo, which made me anxious, but happy. 

I got to work in the assembly line serving up the pork. We had two four-person teams working on each side of the long table. We each added an item to the place, first chicken and rice, then green beans, next pork and last the garnished polenta with a shrimp on top. Then a runner took the plate to the two people who dished up the rice, then gumbo, before handing them off to the servers. At first, I was not quite sure how to properly plate the pork. But with the chef's guidance I was soon doing it like a pro.

In all we served around 200 hundred plates. After I finished my job, I hung out with my family and friends, eating the most delicious meal. It was a really great night and I felt so happy to be part of it as a KAPS student. 

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