Category: Schools

by Brynn Novotny
Photos by Nichole Harris and Hannah Knigge

The annual Ag Olympics were held in the high school gymnasium on Thursday, February 21. The entire student body and all staff attended a series of games and activities based around a central theme of farming and agriculture.

The convocation was led by FHS’s own FFA. Members Kennedy DeBoer ’20 and Taylor Runge ’20 acted as student leaders for the event. Their work during the Ag Olympics was only part of what had to be done to achieve success.

“It was a very stressful day because we had the teacher breakfast and Ag Olympics together,” DeBoer said. “Mr. [Thomas] Dux and I met a ton over the past week just trying to plan what we were going to all do. We had to get people to let us borrow all the materials we used, I had to boil 7 dozen eggs, we had to line up the sheep, and then put the tarp [down] and get the gym set up.”

Teacher representatives and students from every grade competed against one another in the various games and activities. This interactive aspect remains a favorite for many students.

“I had lots of fun doing something I’ve never done before,” Beckett Chappell ’23 said. “They picked great teams. That made it even better!”

Teams of FFA members worked to set up every event during small intermission periods. Each individual was assigned a task in order to function as a cohesive group and prevent long waiting periods. Runge was personally pleased at the organization’s output. 

“I would say it was a success overall,” Runge said. “We were able to keep things moving in an efficient manner and hardly had any time between games.”

by Kennedy DeBoer

On January 16th, the Fairbury FFA had 23 members attend and compete at the District 5 Leadership Development Event (LDE) in York at the Holthus Center. The members included Michaela Buchli, Taylor Runge, Sara Huss, Delaney Miller, Colton Starck, Jared Engelman, Harlie Blas, Taylor Gustafson, Christina Hickey, Sarah Engelman, Riley Wood, Brooklen Bear, Toby Julin-McCleary, Makena Lantz, Malayne DeBoer, Jordan Hauschel, Jason Marschman, Alexis Mau, Ava Kroll, Autumn Branson, Jillian Caroon, Kennedy DeBoer, and Kaylee Sipek.

This year Fairbury had Two Senior Parliamentary Procedure teams that both received a blue ribbon.  Senior Parliamentary Procedure Team #1 was made up of the Fairbury FFA Officers including Michaela Buchli, Taylor Runge, Sara Huss, Delaney Miller, Colton Starck, and Jared Engelman.  The Senior Parliamentary Procedure Team #2 was made up of Harlie Blas, Taylor Gustafson, Christina Hickey, Sarah Engelman, Riley Wood, and Brooklen Bear. In Junior Public Speaking, Sophomore Harlie Blas received a blue ribbon. In Senior Public Speaking, senior Michaela Buchli received second purple and is qualified for the Nebraska FFA State Convention in April! Senior, Autumn Branson received a Blue ribbon in her event Natural Resources. Junior Sara Huss received a purple in Employment Skills and was only a few points off from qualifying to state! Junior Jillian Caroon received a blue ribbon in the Employment Skills Contest.  The Conduct of Chapter Meetings team consisting of Toby Julin-McCleary, Makena Lantz, Malayne DeBoer, Jordan Hauschel, Jason Marschman, Alexis Mau, and Ava Kroll (who are all 7th graders) received a blue ribbon.  Jordan Hauschel also competed in the Discovery Speaking Contest and received a red ribbon.  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

by Nichole Harris (Originally Published on the FHSX-Ray).

On Monday January 7, Mrs. Kari Fisher’s Anatomy and Physiology class participated in a mock crime scene experiment. Students in the class used what they had learned about forensics and fingerprinting to dust for fingerprints and identify the “criminal” in the class.

“I liked how she had people in the class act as the “criminals” so we knew it was someone among us and we had to figure out who it was,” RJ Suey ’19 said.

Participating in the mock crime scene helped students to fully understand what they’d been taught and gave them an outlet to apply what that hey learned in real life.

“I enjoyed the crime scene lab because it took what we learned about fingerprints and applied it to real life,” Senior Isaac Robertson said. “I think by trying to catch a “criminal,” it made it more fun and exciting for us while also learning how finding fingerprints work.”