The KC Parade of Hearts set up one of their 150 new 2026 hearts titled “Heartland Toile” outside of the Starbucks in Prairie Village on April 11. Designed and hand-created by Westwood View Elementary School art teacher and artist Paige Crosswhite, this heart is drawn to mimic pastoral blue and white patterns with famous KC locations like the Western Auto sign and the WWI Museum, according to Crosswhite.
“It's kind of like just a love letter of things that give me joy,” Crosswhite said. “It's art for art's sake, because I want to teach my [students] that you don't have to make anything [for other people], it can be just to make you happy.”
The KC Parade of Hearts is a non-profit organization that chooses artists to create the hearts and then auctions them off to raise money for local charitable organizations, according to Crosswhite. This is the third year that Crosswhite has contributed to the Parade of Hearts.
Crosswhite explained that every year, hundreds of applicants apply with a detailed layout plan for their heart and a personal story. She said that she incorporated her past art prints of Kansas City and wrote about the impact the heart would have on her students.
After getting selected, the artist picks up the heart — with a new design each year — and receives a $2,500 stipend for materials and the labor involved in the process, Crosswhite said. Once the heart is finished, a Parade-of-Hearts-delegated sponsor determines where the heart will “live” during the parade. Once the parade is over, the hearts are auctioned off and the proceeds are given to various charitable organizations, like The University of Kansas Health System.
The Shawnee Mission School District evaluated the progress of its mini-test initiative since the 2024-25 school year, on April 13. The district found that students taking the tests are much more likely to score proficient on Kansas State Assessments, according to SMSD Board recaps.
A mini-test, or mini-assessment, can be a test given and designed by a teacher to test cumulative subject matter understanding or a state-prepared practice proficiency test ahead of the Kansas State Assessments, according to SMSD Director of Assessment and Research Dan Gruman.
Gruman explained that based on his statistical analysis, students who take three mini-tests spread throughout the year have a much higher chance of scoring proficient on state assessments.
“I don't want to be top down about it,” Gruman said. “We might say in an integrated algebra/geometry [class] in October, ‘Here's a couple mini tests that would actually be pretty good to administer in October,’ but that's as far as we would take it from the district office. We want that ultimate decision to be made [by teachers], and not by Dan Gruman.”
The initiative wasn’t necessarily mandatory or built into district curricula, but it was suggested among professional learning communities within each district school, according to Gruman.
The mini-tests have largely been a success, according to Gruman. Some challenges include the additional time it takes for teachers to create the assessments and SMSD’s ability to standardize mini-tests across the diverse classes within each subject area.
“[Implementing mini-assessments] should lend itself well to the concept of we shouldn't be educating in isolation,” Gruman said. “So, as a teacher team four or five English 10 teachers, for example, should all be collaborating to support each other. The mini test piece of it supports that intention [and] supports that professionalism of education.”
The City of Prairie Village has planned a parade to take place on May 2 as part of their 75th anniversary celebrations. The event will start at 10 a.m. with over 50 people taking part in the “Prairie Village Through the Decades” themed parade, according to Prairie Village Assistant City Administrator Megan Buum.
Buum helped plan the celebrations and is excited for a parade different from Lancer Day or the 4th of July parade.
“Being a resident and an employee of the city makes [the celebrations] extremely personal for me,” Buum said. “I think everyone has been really pumped and excited about what we've got going in the city this year.”
The parade is free for anyone interested, and residents are encouraged to line the sidewalks of Mission Road starting on 79th Street and ending on 83rd Street, according to Buum.
Prairie Village resident and junior Chase Jehle has enjoyed past city events like the 4th of July parade and is excited to attend the parade with his friends and family.
“I'm looking forward to the themes,” Jehle said. “It's a fun thing that entails food, games, fun and excitement. Some people, they hear ‘parade’ and will want to show up. And then they'll get to learn about the colorful history of Prairie Village along with the festivities.”
After the parade, there will be a free jazz concert in Corinth Square with the Back Alley Brass Band playing, along with carnival and yard games and other family activities from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“I see our community events as an opportunity to celebrate and bring people together,” Buum said. “Politics change through the years, laws change through the years, people's perspective on things changed through the years, but one thing I think that the community can agree on is that Prairie Village is a fantastic place to live or to raise a family, and I think celebrating where we've been and the last 75 years is something that we can all agree on.”
The examples really land. It's rare to find writing this practical without the fluff.