When a News Tribune reporter went to Osage Bend earlier this week to interview a group of volunteer quilters for St. Margaret Church, one of the women offered a suggestion: With all the bad things going on in the world today, it would be nice if the News Tribune put a positive story on the front page every day.
In our business, we hear similar refrains fairly often. And while we've never implemented a quota, we always strive to ferret out the positive stories in our community.
Some of the most fascinating positive stories we come across deal with our youth. This week, we published two stories of teenagers who are excelling at their respective sports.
One, in particular, just accomplished an amazing feat that's worth repeating in this forum.
Earlier this month, Kamryn Twehus competed against 2,362 of the best female archers in the nation and beyond. And she beat them all.
"Hunger Games" hero Katniss Everdeen has nothing on this local sure shot.
Twehus, who attends Blair Oaks High School, shot 299 out of a possible 300 at the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) World Tournament in Louisville, Kentucky.
Thankfully, there is a separate category for girls, so she didn't have to compete against the best boys in the world because she would have beat them all, too. The top male high school shooter at the world competition shot a 298.
If you know anything about archery, you know how close to impossible it is to shoot within a point of 300 for any shooter, any age.
Most of us ordinary humans could practice a lifetime and not have that level of muscle memory, concentration and steady aim that it takes to shoot within a point of perfection. (It wasn't until 2012, after the nationwide schools' archery program had been in existence for a decade, that someone shot the first 300, according to The Hunt Forever organization.)
After winning at the world competition, she said that's her next goal: "I'm just going to keep striving and try to get that 300."
She still has two years to accomplish the feat - she just completed her sophomore year.
We'll be rooting for her.