The third-graders at Jefferson Elementary School got onto the school bus – books in hand. Their mission: to simply brighten the day of the residents at the Heritage Care Center.
On February 25th, Mrs. Shinn’s class brought joy to the residents by sharing their love of reading and singing.
The Soaring Jeffs Quiz Bowl Club participated in their first competition for 2016, January 24, at the ESU #5 Tournament held at Thayer Central Intermediate Schools. Two teams from Jefferson Intermediate, all 6th graders, answered questions through 6 round robin matches followed by a single elimination tournament. All matches were 16 questions from the subjects of social sciences, language arts, science, math, fine arts, sports, misc., and year in review (current events). Both teams did a fabulous job competing with teams from BDS, Diller/Odell, Freeman, Meridian, and Thayer Central, with our own Fairbury A team, consisting of Zane Grizzle, Alex Buxton, Caleb Trimm, Noelani Cervantes and Haidyn Carstens taking home the gold hardware. The Fairbury B team, consisting of Rorik Blatny, Steven Aden, Alissa York, Ericka Kroeker, and Brigham Scheetz, also competed hard but fell short of the medal round.
The Soaring Jeffs Quiz Bowl Club is comprised of 5th and 6th graders and Co-Sponsors Angie Judd and Tammy Klaumann. We invite next year’s 5th and 6th graders to think about joining this club. Ask any of its current members or sponsors for details.
Students and teachers caught a wiff of good smells drifting through the halls of school this past week! Students in the Foods and Nutrition classes prepared a meal for the high school staff to eat prior to Parent Teacher Conferences on Thursday, Feb. 11th. The classes researched and chose the theme “ A Souper Bowl for Super Teachers” and planned a menu to fit the theme. Foods prepared for the night included cheeseburger soup, chicken noodle soup, stromboli, fruit cup, cinnamon bread twist hearts, and an assortment of dessert bites, including decorated sugar cookies, mini cheesecakes, cake balls, and chocolate dipped strawberries. The meal was held in the FCS room, and students decorated the tables with cut out hearts. The students enjoyed making the foods for the staff and teachers always appreciate and enjoy eating their work!
February is Teen Dating Awareness Month. In an effort to help educate our Junior High students about dating violence and domestic violence, Mandy VanLaningham of Hope Crisis Center gave presentations to the students on February 8 and 10. Students learned that people are abusive because they want to be in control of someone else. The abuse forms can be verbal, emotional, sexual, physical, financial or through social media. Statistics show that 25-30% of women will be abused in their lives, but there really is no sufficient data on males. All types of people regardless of financial status, race or religion may deal with some type of abuse. Statistics also show that 1 in 3 teens know someone who has been in an abusive relationship. Students learned that if they know someone who has been abused, their job is to be a supportive listener. Individuals from the Hope Crisis Center also plan to chalk the front sidewalk of the high school to help bring awareness of the abuse that can happen. If anyone should need to contact the Hope Crisis Center their contact information is as follows: 1-877-388-HOPE (4673) or www.hopecrisiscenter.org.
The Jefferson County Spelling Bee was held on Monday, February 8, 2016 in the BFAC at Fairbury Jr. Sr. High School. Seventh and eighth grade team members competing were Bynn Novotny, Sara Huss, Keely Schramm, Brylee Yantz, Jillian Caroon, Page Nippert, Jake Ward and Brittyn Wetnz. Placing for the Jeffs were Brynn Novotny 4th, Brylee Yantz 6th, Keely Schramm 7th and Brittyn Wentz 9th. Placing 4th makes Brynn eligible for the district competition.
We are proud of our SOARing students participating in the Jefferson County Spelling Bee! Congratulations to these SOARing spellers!! Caleb (2nd place) Aly (3rd place) and Zane (9th place)
Are you interested in going to college, but need to work full-time? If so, check out this helpful site to see how you can work full-time and still go to college all from home. This link will take you to a list of colleges in the state of Nebraska and what degrees you can earn from them solely on-line. http://www.onlinecolleges.net/nebraska/
The mission of the Lady Jeffs basketball team is to give the chance for student-athletes to learn to become responsible, respectful and successful young adults through the game of basketball. At a recent team meal, the members of the Fairbury Lady Jeffs Basketball team took this to heart and made two blankets that they are donating to the local Hope Crisis Center. They presented the blankets to Carmen Hinman February 4, 2016. The Hope Crisis Center is 
a non-profit organization committed to empowering victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. They are planning on auctioning off the blankets at their fundraiser in November.
Students of the month for January include seventh graders Sarah and Aden and eighth graders Hektor and Raven. Congratulations to these fine junior high students!
