Karen Dux

FHS Journalism Earns JEA Recognition

Three Fairbury High School students earned Excellent awards in the 2020 Journalism Education Association winter contest announced this week. Senior Josephine Blatny won an “Excellent” award for her newspaper layout for “State Champs – Softball.” Senior Carson York received “Excellent” recognition for his Sports/Action Photography for coverage of State softball. Junior Brynn Novotny received three “Excellent” awards in “Infographic Design,” “Newswriting” and “Yearbook Sports Writing.”

Across the state, 396 journalism students from 28 high schools earned an award in this year’s JEA Nebraska Winter Contest. Yearbook, newspaper, literary magazine and broadcasting students across the state will receive certificates for entries judged Superior, Excellent and Honorable Mention.

“It is one thing to share news within your school community, but quite another to be evaluated by a professional and deemed worthy of recognition,” said JEA state director Marsha Kalkowski.

Since 2004, Nebraska’s JEA has sponsored this contest to showcase student work from the fall semester from across the state. Many advisers use this contest to test the competition in preparation for the NSAA State Journalism Contest.

Entries from each category were judged by professional journalists and veteran high school advisers from across the nation.

There are 21 traditional categories: Advertising, Column Writing, Editorial Cartooning, Editorial Writing, Review Writing, Newspaper Feature Writing, InfoGraphic Design, News Writing, Newspaper Sports Feature Writing, Newspaper Sports News Coverage, Newspaper Layout, Headline Writing & Design, News/Feature Photography, Sports/Action Photography, Photo Illustration, Yearbook Feature Writing, Yearbook Sports Writing, Yearbook Theme Copy Writing, Yearbook Layout, Yearbook Theme Development and In-Depth Coverage. Four broadcast categories: News, Feature, Sports and Overall Program and one literary magazine category.

Other FHS winners include:

Honorable Mention–

Hannak Knigge: Yearbook Layout

Josephine Blatny: Entertainment Review Writing

Brynn Novotny: Photo/Artistic Illustration

DeZaire Bishop: Editorial Writing and Infographic Design

Jane Culp: Newswriting

See original article on the FHS X-Ray

STEM Class Busy With Stop Motion AND Robotics!

8th graders in Mrs. Carly Winter’s new STEM class have been focusing on Stop Motion Photography this quarter. Stop Motion Photography is “an animation technique in which the subject is manipulated in between photographs to give the appearance of movement once the frames are spliced together.” This means students must take 600 photos to create a video that is 1 minute long at 10 frames per second. They will create 3 unique videos, all increasing in length and difficulty. In the first video, students were given the same supplies as everyone else; 3 dollars in change. For their next video students will have free range to choose any supplies they can think of. And for their last video, they will be paired up and will be creating videos that include themselves as the props!

Students in Mrs. Carly Winter’s 7th Grade STEM class are also focusing on Robotics this quarter! Our resident Robotics expert Mr. David Camara has been teaching them to code their robots and use different sensors to avoid obstacles, stay in a designated area, and drives autonomously. In March, 4 students will be selected based on their participation, as well as their behaviors and academics in their other classes, to go to the Robotics Competition at ESU 5 in Beatrice to compete against area schools for the Robotics Championship title.

After Hour Kid Power

Students in the After Hour Kid Power group get to do yoga every Monday. This week we continued learning about the four elements: fire ? water ? earth ? ? and wind. I gave everyone a feather! We practiced shoulder rotation while holding the feather, mindfulness while dropping and catching the feather, and breath control while blowing the feather down the mat! They took extra feathers home to share with their family.

Missoula Children’s Theatre is Coming to Town!

Auditions: Monday, February 17th

Time: 3:45-5:45

(Practice to follow that evening for those receiving a part) 6:00-8:00

Place: BFAC

Who can audition? All students K-6!

~Remaining rehearsals will be held after school Tuesday – Thursday 3:45-8:00 and Friday 2:00 – 6:15 at the high school (Burkley Fine Arts Center).

~Those auditioning must have a clear schedule for the entire week and if selected, be able to attend ALL rehearsals and scheduled performances required for their role.

~A detailed rehearsal schedule will be distributed at the conclusion of the audition on Monday, February 17th.

~2 Performances: Saturday, February 22nd 3:00 & 5:30

The Missoula Children’s Theatre is a non-profit organization based in Missoula, Montana. Auditioning and participation is free. The residency in Fairbury is made possible by the Fairbury PTA and Fairbury Public Schools.

Aaron Leibel Receives Jeffs’ Best Award!

The Jeffs’ Best Award was created by the Fairbury Public Schools Board of Education to highlight and celebrate the great work of our staff.

On behalf of the Board of Education, I would like to congratulate Mr. Aaron Leibel, Jr.-Sr. High social studies teacher, as the February recipient of the Jeffs’ Best Award!

Aaron’s students say that he’s a great teacher (even if he is too humble to acknowledge it himself). The common theme in comments from his multiple nominations was that Aaron’s classes are entertaining as well as instructive. “He will always tell stories that go with the topic,” wrote one student, “and it’s so funny.” As its sponsor, Aaron has also led the speech team to several great showings in recent years, and he is growing Fairbury’s own speech invitational by leaps and bounds. What’s next for Aaron? Only he can tell!

Aaron will receive a $25 gift certificate during a short presentation at the February BoE meeting and will be eligible for a drawing for a $100 prize in May! As always, we want to thank everyone for their nominations! The BoE will make a new selection prior to the March meeting.

We want to thank everyone for their nominations! The BOE will be making a new selection prior to the March meeting.

Anyone in Jeffland is invited to nominate any Fairbury Public Schools Employee by filling out the form below:

http://bit.ly/2DPRwG1

Fairbury FFA Competes at District 5 Leadership Development Events

by Kennedy DeBoer

On January 15th, the Fairbury FFA had 16 members attend and compete at the District 5 Leadership Development Event (LDE) in York at the Holthus Center. The members included Kennedy DeBoer, Devin Wanamaker, Dalton Petersen, John Kerwood, Sara Huss, Jillian Caroon, Harlie Blas, Trayce Blas, Emily Huss, Toby Julin-McCleary, Madison Ohlde, Malayne DeBoer, Jason Marshman, Alexis Mau, and Ava Kroll.

In Senior Public Speaking, Junior Harlie Blas received a blue ribbon. Senior Sara Huss was a district champion in Employment Skills! She received a purple ribbon and qualified for the FFA State Convention in April!! Senior Jillian Caroon also received a purple ribbon in the Employment Skills Contest. The Conduct of Chapter Meetings team consisting of Toby Julin-McCleary, Madison Ohlde, Malayne DeBoer, Jason Marshman, Alexis Mau, and Ava Kroll (who are all 8th graders) received a red ribbon. Seniors Kennedy DeBoer, Devin Wanamaker, Dalton Petersen, and John Kerwood competed in Ag demonstration and received a purple ribbon. Freshmen Emily Huss and Trayce Blas both competed in Creed Speaking. Emily received a blue and Trayce received a purple. There was a lot of young talent that competed for the Fairbury FFA Chapter this year and the future is looking very bright for all of these FFA members. It was a GREAT day to be a Jeff!

Jillian Caroon with a Purple Ribbon in job interview!

The District 5 Job Interview Champion! — Sara Huss, the District 5 Job Interview Champion!

First Graders Study Astronomy

Within our new reading curriculum (CKLA), our first grade students were introduced to Astronomy. We spent two weeks learning about the first trips to outer space, how the planets were formed, what it feels like to be in outer space, and the order of the eight planets. Miss Lassek’s first graders spent two days sharing what they learned about each planet while building their own diorama. The students began by painting their boxes to match the color of the night sky. They continued to create their diorama by adding balls of gas (stars and the sun) to spread heat and light to the planets. Each student then began to add details to their planets, specifically adding rings to Saturn, a red spot on Jupiter (which happens to be a storm), and adding green to Earth to represent the land. To finish the dioramas, the students and teachers hung the planets in the correct order. Miss Lassek’s first graders all agree that Astronomy is the most interesting unit we’ve learned about so far!

Third Graders Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Third grade students celebrated learning about Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a writing activity. The students did a great job when they were given the opportunity to express their dreams for themselves, family and the world. These students have tons of great ideas and they need to be heard! No dream is too big to be achieved, and their teacher hopes all their dreams come true. She knows they will work hard to achieve these dreams.

Paige Arnold Receives Jeffs’ Best Award!

The Jeffs’ Best Award was created by the Fairbury Public School Board of Education to highlight and celebrate the great work of our staff.

On behalf of the Board of Education, I would like to congratulate Mrs. Paige Arnold as the January recipient of the “Jeffs’ Best” Award!!

Congratulation Paige! Some example statements from her nominations, include “She is the most consistent classroom teacher at Central in teaching expectations while developing relationships.” “Her classes over the years have almost always been respectful, timely, and they work hard.” “She is respectful to colleagues and efficient in all of her practices.” “She is devoted to her work and her personal life as well. On top of it all, she has found time to serve the district as a volleyball coach and on the MTSS Team. On that team she has been a creative influence, giving us great ideas and following through in a timely manner.” “She has been a major asset to Central Elementary and I am thankful to have known her.””

We want to thank everyone for their nominations! The BOE will making a new selection prior to the February meeting. There will be a short presentation at each month’s board meeting. Paige will receive a $25 gift certificate and will be eligible for the Jeffs’ Best of the Year Award in May!

Anyone in Jeffland is invited to nominate any Fairbury Public Schools Employee by filling out the form below:

http://bit.ly/2DPRwG1