The NMEA Outstanding Young Music Educator award is given in recognition of outstanding promise in music education. The 2017 Outstanding Young Music Educator is Maureen Beck of Fairbury High School. Congratulations Ms. Beck! Fairbury is proud to have you as part of our staff.
Fairbury Jr. Sr. High School Celebrates Veteran’s Day
On Monday morning Nov. 13th, faculty and students attended the Veteran’s Day program at the high school presented by American History teacher Mick Suey and some of his history students. The program began with slides showing the major wars that the United States has been involved in from the American Revolution up to Afghanistan. Once completed, Mr. Kroon welcomed those in attendance and by lead the crowd in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
The next section included slides of the history of Veterans Day (narrated by Rusti Bassett, Isaac Robertson and Michaela Buchli), followed by slides showing Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknowns (narrated by Jared Engelman). Isaac Robertson and Konnor Hasselbring played “TAPS” in the background followed by a video of the “Changing of the Guard.”
The following section of the presentation honored current military personnel (narrated by Jayson Klaumann and Taylea Mills), followed by a tribute to all veterans (narrated by Tori Likens).
The highlight of the program was the presentation of “Quilts of Valor” by Barb Schmidt and other members of the Rock Creek Quilters’ Guild to three Korean War Veterans (escorted to the stage by Jeremiah Gray and Brandon Hinrichs):
“James H. Barber was born on March 21, 1932. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War. In May 1952, Jim was drafted from Jefferson County to Omaha, where the Marines took 10% of those drafted. He was sent to San Diego, California for 12 weeks of boot camp training, then to Camp Pendleton, California for 6 weeks and then back to San Diego for High Frequency Radio training, where he was the top of his class. In February 1953 he was transferred to Camp Lejuene, North Carolina. In August of 1953, Jim was sent to meet the 7th fleet in Naples, Italy and ports of France, Greece, and Sicily where he coordinated high frequency message communications. He was honorably discharged in May of 1954 and returned to Fairbury where he ran Barber Furniture Company.
Roscoe Beachler was born February 22, 1932. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1952-1956 during the Korean War. After his basic training in San Diego, Roscoe spent 19 months in Guam. The war ended and he went to Maryland for schooling to be a personnel officer. He returned to California and spent seven months on Midway Island on a Naval Base. He received the All Navy award in basketball in 1953 and also in softball. After being honorably discharged in 1956, he returned to Reynolds to farm.
Mark D. Schmidt was born October 15, 1933. He served in the United States Air Force during the Korean War. Mark entered the Air Force in August 1952. He received his basic training at Parks Air Force Base in California. He was sent to Sheppard Air Force base in Wichita Falls, Texas for aircraft and engine training and then had schooling to become an instructor in aircraft and engine training. In February 1955 he was called to Travis Air Force Base, Fairfield, California to be an inspector on engines in F-86 fighter jets. He was honorably discharged in August 1956 and returned to farm east of Daykin. He was awarded four ribbons for his years of service.
Robert W. Yantz (also escorted by his granddaughter, Brylee) was born July 26, 1927. He served in the United States Army during the Korean War. Bob was inducted into the Army on March 22, 1951 at Omaha. He was sent to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri for basic and advanced training. On September 15, 1951 he rode a troop ship to Japan. On October 1, 1951 he was sent to Slinodaya, Japan. Upon completion of training as a medical aide man, he was sent to Pusan, Korea. He rode a train to the 514th Medical Clearing Company where wounded were brought by helicopter and ambulance. Seriously wounded soldiers were put on planes and sent to Japan. Bob received his honorable discharge at Camp Carson, Colorado on March 10, 1953 and returned to the family farm east of Daykin. For his service to his country, Bob received the Korean Service medal with four bronze service stars and the United Nations service medal.”
The presentation ended with a video tribute and a “Thank You” to all of America’s veterans.
A special thanks also to Mick Suey and his class for putting the presentation together and to Darby Davidson, Joe Fitzgerald and Maureen Beck for their help in showing the power-point.
Grizzle and Wasserman Selected to River Battle Bowl
Fairbury Journal News Fairbury, Nebraska (11/7/2017) . Senior Lineman Trent Grizzle #65 and Senior QB/DB Adam Wasserman have been selected to the Nebraska roster at the 2017 River Battle Bowl.
As a Sr., Grizzle led the offense line with 27 pancake blocks. On defense Trent tallied 57 (51 solo stops) tackles, with 10.5 tackles for loss. Grizzle also added three sacks, and scored two touchdowns running the ball on offense for Fairbury.
This season Adam tore up the Fairbury record book. His 1,543 passing yards and 23 TDs rank second, and his 64.9% completion broke the previous record of 55%. Wasserman also ran for 936yds and scored 16 TDs on the ground. His career total of 3,841 passing yards ranks second, and his 56 career passing TDs is tops in the books.
On the defensive side, Wasserman pulled down 7 INTs, 4 of them going for TDs. This year’s game will be held Nov. 25th @ 2pm at Treynor High School in Iowa.
Notice of Fairbury Public Schools – School Board Vacancy
A vacancy on the Fairbury Public Schools Board of Education will be created on November 13, 2017. The office vacated will be that of a school board member who is resigning due to becoming employed by the District. The term of this position will expire on the first Thursday after the first Tuesday in January 2019.
The Fairbury Public Schools Board of Education will discuss the replacement and/or process to find the replacement at the November 13, 2017 regular meeting. If you are interested in this appointment, please submit a letter of application no later than 12:00 pm on November 22, 2017. Please send a letter of application to:
Fairbury Board of Education
c/o Mr. Stephen Grizzle, Supt.
703 K Street
Fairbury, NE 68352
Fairbury FFA Attends 90th National FFA Convention
On October 24th at midnight, the Fairbury FFA Chapter set out from Lincoln on their way to the 90th National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. In attendance from the Fairbury Chapter were Sarah McCown, Brock Barton, Olivia Koop, Kane Hasselbring, Delaney Miller, Kaylee Sipek, Michaela Buchli, Bryn Livingston, and Trevin Arnold. While they were there, the group of nine, plus advisor Thomas Dux, attended various workshops and fairs.
There is a large career fair held in the convention center each year, where various businesses and colleges have booths to give the FFA kids a chance to learn more about agricultural opportunities. They also had the chance to take a tour of the Dallara Indycar factory where students were able ride in an Indycar. Unique to the state of Nebraska, the Nebraska chapters sponsor a dance on two nights of convention that are only for Nebraska FFA students. The Fairbury FFA chapter attended both of these dances, and enjoyed meeting and visiting with students from other chapters closer to home.
Fairbury graduate Cody Huss also received the American FFA Degree. The American FFA Degree is a sign of great accomplishment and only a small percent of FFA members ever earn this degree. There are numerous requirements for FFA members as one of them is members have to have earned at least $10,000 or productively invested $7,500 into their Supervised Agricultural Experience Program. Congratulations to Cody on this huge accomplishment.
It was a full week, but they all enjoyed venturing outside the comfort of home and into the sea of blue.
FPS Celebrates Digital Citizenship Week
In support of Digital Citizenship week, the following activities took place during the weeks of October 9-18. The students and staff of Fairbury Jr. Sr. High School and Jefferson Elementary were encouraged to participate. The goal was that together we can model and promote positive digital citizenship i
Hunter’s Story
Heading into his freshman year of high school, Hunter faced tragedy with the loss of his mother to cancer. While coping with the situation, Hunter developed a vision of making a positive impact on people’s lives.
As a 12-year-old, Hunter created the Twitter account @AthleteNation where he shared inspirational and uplifting messages. Today, Athlete Nation is a sports media company with a platform of over 70,000 followers.
As a recognized professional speaker before graduating high school in 2017, Hunter shares his story of overcoming adversity to help empower others to make a difference. Hunter works in guiding today’s generations to leverage the power of social media to change the world for the better.
Teachers Take on Community Service Challenge
During their weekly professional development, teachers of Fairbury Public Schools were challenged to take part in community service. Many ideas were shared. Several teachers helped with carpeting the FYI Center in Fairbury and others took on additional projects. Julie Petersen, a high school math instructor, challenged the high school teachers to donate to the Blue Valley Community Action Food Pantry. The teachers gladly took on the challenge and donated 121 items.
Students Attend Endicott Clay’s Manufacturing Day
Twenty-six students attended Endicott Clay’s Manufacturing Day. The purpose of Endicott Clay manufacturing day is to expose students to manufacturing in our community and to promote the different jobs available at the plant. Students from many local schools got the opportunity to see first hand how the manufacturing of bricks takes place. Endicott Clay manufactures over 100,000,000 bricks per year. If you do the math and each brick is worth 40 cents, that equates to 40 million in sales. Endicott bricks are shipped all over the United States and Canada. Endicott bricks are used in many huge structures such as Yankee Stadium. The plant never shuts down with three shifts running all the time.
7th Graders learning Coding Basics
Mrs. Carly Winter’s block 7-8 class worked on the basics of JavaScript coding today using the Hour of Code from BitsBox.
Students received a basic introduction into the world of online coding. With BitsBox, students are learning to build their own apps from scratch. They are given a few basic lines of code to get started, along with a virtual tablet that allows them to see how the apps would play out in real life.