![Watching a small group scrimmage, Ben Lundt, St. Louis City SC goalkeeper and founder of Lundt Pro Soccer Training, shouts words of encouragement to players on Sunday, April 26 n the Lafayette grass soccer field. “The idea behind [the event] was to bring the professional soccer players closer to the community because usually people only get to see us on TV or in the stadium. [Families] actually having the opportunity to have their kids on the field with us is the most important aspect,” Ben Lundt said.](https://lancerfeed.press/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_6823-1200x800.jpg)
![In celebration of winning his second straight state title in the 215 weight class, junior Carter Brown backflips before leaving the mat. Brown won his bout against junior Kobe Rhymes of North Kansas City High School by fall in just 41 seconds. "Carter does what Carter does. We expect [success] out of him and his goals are bigger than the state championship," coach Sam Ritchie said.](https://lancerfeed.press/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/IMG_2784-1200x800.jpg)
Equipped with banners, DVD’s and Power Point presentations, the Lafayette Renaissance Student Steering committee visited Parkway South High School on Oct. 1 for the Jostens Renaissance Heartland Conference.
Schools from all over the Midwest attended the Heartland conference including many from Missouri and Illinois, mostly from the St. Louis area.
While at the conference, Renaissance members partook in presentations about a variety of topics including Lafayette’s Academic Pep Assembly, Renaissance awards, the Camp Babler leadership experience for Renaissance students and advertising Renaissance within school.
“I presented on the advertising aspect of the Renaissance program. Pretty much how we keep Renaissance a popular name in our school,” senior Renaissance Student Steering committee member Tim Kuklo said.
In addition to presenting, sophomore members of the program visited various presentations put on by other schools Renaissance programs in order to be introduced to different styles of Renaissance programs and different activities and rewards that each offer.
However, the day was not made up of only work as Parkway South put on fun activities throughout the day including a welcome breakfast, a dessert bar and of course a smaller scale Academic Pep Assembly to raise the spirits of every attendee.
A few surprises unfolded throughout the day as well as the students continued to enjoy the company of others. For instance, members from Ritenour High School spontaneously broke out in a spurt of rapping and during the Academic Pep Assembly, Parkway South’s Step Team broke out in dance and truly pumped up the conference.
“I know a memorable experience was the Parkway South Step Team. They werereally good,” Kuklo said.
“Definitely I think its cliché to say that my favorite part was sharing with other schools, but I think just meeting the wealth of the other people from out-of-state schools was the coolest experience,” Kuklo said.
In the end, students left with a greater knowledge of the Renaissance program, fresh ideas for their schools and memories that will be hard to top.
Kuklo concluded, “Its been this way for the past two years that I have done it, and this year, my third year, was even better.”
