Kaylleigh Bishop, at the age of 17, already has traveled the world with her military family but has found a comfortable and enjoyable hometown in Cañon City.
Though she was born in Kentucky, Bishop and her seven siblings lived for several years in both Germany and Florida with their father and mother before moving to Fremont County in 2011. Ever since, she has kept herself busy engraining herself in both the local and school communities.
After attending Washington Elementary, Harrison School, and Cañon City Middle School, she landed at Cañon City High School -- where she will shortly graduate as a junior as part of the 2024 class.
"I stayed busy and participated in cheer both this year and my freshman year. I was in ROTC and did all of the extra activities like Raiders, drill, and all that, and I've done the [Blossom] Pageant for the past two years," she said.
Though she freely admits that school hasn't been her favorite outlet, she has enjoyed being a part of the Tiger Open Pathways (TOPS) program, which serves as a sort of alternative to the regular capstone course that is a requirement for all juniors and seniors.
In essence, rather than completing one massive capstone project, the TOPS program encourages students to design and implement six smaller projects, each with a purposeful community component built within it.
"They're basically based on what you want to do," she said.
In addition to joining her class on outings to Pagosa Springs and Durango, Bishop has also created several projects to serve community members in Cañon City.
Several years ago, she started painting and caring for her nails and decided that nail painting and care would be just one way that she could give back to her community. As part of the project, she visited both Cañon City and Friendship House at the Home and encouraged any passing lady to have her nails done.
"I probably painted the nails of 15 people," she said with a smile.
Her creativity passage turned out to be particularly touching as she took on a project from Fremont County Sheriff Allen Cooper himself.
Though she doesn't consider herself an avid quilter, she happily accepted a project that consisted of taking about 20 shirts from Cooper's many years of law enforcement service and stitching them into a keepsake of a quilt.
"He gave me the shirts and a uniform and said, 'Do whatever you want with them,'" she said. "I made this mirrored pattern with a specific centerpiece from all of his years in the law enforcement field."
She presented the finished quilt to Cooper on April 13 and found great satisfaction in her hard work.
"I like helping people out in the community," she said. "It's a little bit more meaningful for him than if he paid a random person to do the project."
One of her final projects as a CCHS student is currently being completed and includes working closely with her partner, Kade Rodenbeck, to build homes for stray cats throughout Fremont County.
"I have a sensitive spot in my heart for stray cats because most of ours were rescues," she said. "We wanted to make a place for them to stay safe."
She and Rodenbeck have worked closely with Humane Society of Fremont County General Manager Susan Fredinburg to locate colonies of stray cats that may need some extra shelter. After finding appropriate locations outside of county lines, the pair plans to construct homes from 18- and 35-gallon totes to put at strategic locations throughout the summer.
The hard work that Bishop has put into her numerous mini capstones will pay off in May when she graduates as a junior from CCHS.
By the end of summer, she plans to stay close to her military roots and enter Army basic training. She's nearly completed classes to become a certified nurse's assistant and, although she doesn't plan on working as a CNA, feels that the knowledge from such classes will provide an edge in her ultimate dream -- serving as an Army combat medic.
"I hope I get to go to Korea," she said with a smile. "Or Asia in general would be so cool."
At this time, she plans to make a healthy career from her time in the military, but Fremont County will have her for another few precious months.
During that time, she plans to continue to spend time with her friends, manicure her nails, go for drives in scenic Fremont County, and hang out with her family.
For Bishop, Cañon City has been a pretty good place to grow up and spread her wings for the future.
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