Category: Jr. Sr. High School

On Monday morning Nov. 13^th, 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.

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.

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.

Endicott Clay employs around 350 workers.  The students got to see many different jobs at the plant.  Starting wages for first shift are $11.00 per hour, second shift $12.00 per hour, and third shift $13.00 per hour with overtime at time and a half after 40 hours.  Endicott Clay has workers in office positions, sales, engineering, plant management, heavy equipment operators, machinists, welders, artists, carpenters,  and maintenance to name a few.

Students got to explore the manufacturing lines where they saw many different processes.   Robotics is used extensively at the plant.  Robots lift heavy bricks and place them on carriages where they will go into a kiln for firing.  It takes over two days for the bricks to be fully fired.  They also have an art mural department where artists carve green bricks.  It is there that the bricks are numbered and the mural is disassembled and shipped to the customer.  Fairbury students also got to see one of the original “bee hive” kilns that were used in the making of the bricks back when the company was first in business.

It was a great day and a positive experience for our students.   At the end of the tour, there was a question and answer session with the President and CEO of the company, Ryan Parker. He answered many questions.   He also told students that a 2 year degree is very helpful in getting a job at the factory.  A group photo was even taken in front of two huge Caterpillar scrapers that they use in the mine.  Thank you to all that went.  Fairbury was well represented!