Our Cover, Your Kid
Talia Shahouri, age 6
Kelby Williams, age 6
Bridget Cohlmia, age 12
Johnathan “JR” Weigand, age 12
You don’t have to go far in Wichita to find a cute kid! We put out the invite and you answered in droves, sending in photos of your adorable children and grandchildren in the 316 area for our annual Our Cover, Your Kid Contest. Whittling it down to just five finalists was a tough job!
The finalists were invited to a photo shoot at Tobie Andrews Photography, where they posed for the camera in their holiday best. These kids don’t just have looks, they have personalities to match! We loved meeting these charming children who range in age from 6 to 12. (The 2021 contest featured kids ages 1–5.)
We asked the finalists' parents to tell us a little more about their children. Read on to see what they had to say!
Talia Shahouri, age 6
Parents: Ghenwa and Shadi Shahouri
Grade in school: First
Interests: Soccer, ballet, cooking and science
Personality: She is friendly and social
Other fun facts: She’s the middle child and was so excited to be in SPLURGE!
Kelby Williams, age 6
Parents: LaToya Clark and Glenn Williams II
Grade in school: First
Interests: Drawing, dinosaurs, video games, movies
Personality: He’s funny, smart, loving and cares about helping strangers
Other fun facts: He likes basketball and boxing and was excited to be a finalist!
Bridget Cohlmia, age 12
Parents: Tiffany and Pete Cohlmia
Grade in school: Seventh
Interests: Dance at Kansas Dance Academy and tumbling
Personality: She is sweet and loves to help people
Other fun facts: Her parents call her “Bridgie” and she was the Our Cover, Your Kid winner in 2014 when she was 4!
Johnathan “JR” Weigand, age 12
Parent: Johnathan Weigand
Grade in school: Third
Interests: Tennis, golf, swimming, karate, football and cars
Personality: He is very outgoing and sweet, loves to be social and likes spending time with friends.
Other fun facts: JR loves roller coasters!
Cover Winner
Brooklyn Seglem, age 12
Parents: Mark and Stacy Seglem
Grade in school: Fifth
Interests: Singing, acting, songwriting, volleyball, animals of any kind
Personality: She is fun, witty, kind, caring, loves Jesus and doesn’t know a stranger!
Other fun facts:
She has a Maltipoo named Nico
A Helping Heart
Cover Winner Brooklyn Seglem, age 12
Our cover winner, Brooklyn Seglem, has her sights set on big things! The only child of Mark and Stacy Seglem loves to act, sing and write music and hopes to appear on “America’s Got Talent” someday. But while she’s dreaming big, she’s also just a normal fifth-grader who loves to play with friends, help at church and spend time with her grandparents, Judy and Del Thoman and Knute and Cherie Seglum, all of Wichita.
When she learned she had won the cover contest, her mom said she couldn’t stop squealing and jumping up and down. But she also didn’t want to brag and decided not to mention her big news in school. “She is so compassionate and has a huge heart for others and Jesus,” Stacy said. “She has a heart for the poor and the homeless. We’ve actually stopped to help many homeless people with food, clothing, shoes and other things. There are just too many ways to describe how kind she is!”
Brooklyn has started to get a little stage time, acting in a play at Trinity Academy this summer, singing on the Riverfest stage at the NewSpring Church Christian Concert, and starring in a short film produced by NewSpring that will be shown on Christmas Day. She takes voice and guitar lessons.
She also co-wrote a song called “Doing Big Things” with her former voice teacher, Austin Renfroe, that the two are hoping to release on iTunes. The words sum up Brooklyn’s feelings about her aspirations and her faith: “You’ve got a plan for me, better than all my dreams. You say to just believe — well I believe, and I can't wait to see you doing big things, doing big things in my life, doing big things, doing big things all the time.”
We’re looking forward to seeing Brooklyn’s next big thing!