Click on the link below to learn about summer camp opportunities at the University of Nebraska Kearney.
Summer Camp Opportunities ~ University of Nebraska Kearney
Nicholas Kroon Named 2016-2017 NSASSP Region I Outstanding New Principal of the Year
Nicholas Kroon was the recipient of 2016-2017 Region I Outstanding New Principal award on April 19, 2017, by the Nebraska State Association of Secondary School Principals (NSASSP). Nicholas Kroon is the Jr./Sr. High School Principal at Fairbury Public Schools. Region I consist of the following counties in the state of Nebraska: Butler, Clay, Fillmore, Gage, Hamilton, Jefferson, Johnson, Lancaster, Nemaha, Nuckolls, Pawnee, Polk, Richardson, Saline, Saunders, Seward, Thayer, and York.
Nicholas Kroon has been working hard to improve the climate in his district. At the beginning of the school year, he implemented a new program to decrease failure rates and boost the amount of positive comments that staff members make to students throughout the school day. This has had a positive impact on the school and it has fostered growth in many relationships with the student body. Along with decreasing the failure rates in their district, Nicholas has also worked with his colleagues to decrease the amount of suspensions this year. To date, they have slashed the number of behavior related suspensions by 75%!
In addition, Nicholas has also helped with the reVision process. In this process, Fairbury Public Schools is looking at their Career Technical Education (CTE) course offerings and trying to maximize their programs for students in their district. Nicholas has a lot of positive energy that he uses to focus on making things better for all students. Nicholas Kroon does all of these things while balancing his family’s home life and the “old man basketball league.”
Congratulations Mr. Nicholas Kroon!
State FFA Convention 2017
The Fairbury FFA Chapter members attended the 2017 Nebraska FFA State Convention, April 6-8 in Lincoln, Nebraska. Events were held at the Pinnacle Bank Arena, hotels in Lincoln’s Haymarket, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln East Campus. It was the 89th year for the Nebraska State FFA Convention and a memorable one for the Fairbury FFA Chapter as the Agricultural Biotechnology Team were named State Champions. FFA members, advisors and guests supported chapters and award recipients. Attendees had the opportunity to listen to motivational speakers and retiring state officer addresses during convention sessions. Students were engaged in leadership workshops, competed in Leadership Skills Events and attended the annual Career Fair. Students also participated in the State Career Development Events on UNL’s East Campus.
Individual award winners for the Fairbury FFA Chapter include the Agricultural Biotechnology team that received a Purple Ribbon as a team and were Named State Champions. The team consisted of Ashley Griffee who received a purple ribbon and was named the Individual State Champion, Taylor Runge who placed 5th and received a Purple Ribbon, Jordan Ruhnke who placed 6th received a Purple Ribbon, and Jared Engelman who received a Blue Ribbon.
Agriscience team that received a Blue Ribbon as a team and consisted of Sara Huss who received a Blue Ribbon, Taylor Runge who received, a Red Ribbon, Devin Wanamaker, and Bret Cole.
The Agronomy team received a Purple Ribbon as a team and consisted of Ashley Griffee who received a Purple Ribbon, Michaela Buchli who received a Blue Ribbon, Kaylee Sipek who received a Red Ribbon, and Delaney Miller.
The Farm Management Team Received a Blue Ribbon as a team and consisted of Patrick Ondrak who received a Blue Ribbon, Bailey Taylor who received a Blue Ribbon, Madison Black, and Brent Hirsch.
The Senior Livestock Evaluation Team consisted of Sara McCown who received a Blue Ribbon, Blake Bauer, Jordan Ruhnke, and Althea Esteller.
The Meat Judging team consisted of Garret Ragland who received a Blue Ribbon, Zach Holes, Althea Esteller, and Jon Engelman.
The Natural Resources Team received a Red Ribbon and consisted of Jake Maschmann who received a blue ribbon, Brock Barton, and Trevin Arnold.
The Welding team consisted of Brock Barton who competed in the Gas Metal Arc Welding event and received a white ribbon and Brandon Hinrichs who competed in the OxyAcetylene welding event.
Michaela Buchli competed in the Junior Public Speaking Leadership Skills Event and received a Gold rating. Come forward and receive your medal.
Carson Bohlmeyer, Patrick Ondrak, Blake Bauer, and Althea Esteller also received their State FFA Degrees. This is the highest honor an FFA Member can receive at the state level.
Fairbury Public Schools Superintendent Mr. Stephen Grizzle also received the Cornerstone Award. This is awarded to school leaders who have a vision and support Career Education Programs within their school.
The Fairbury FFA Chapter had a great time at state convention and will be looking to keep building in their experiences and contest results for next year. Congratulations to all of the Fairbury FFA members who received ribbons at the state convention.
FBLA Chapter Competes at the State Leadership Conference
The Fairbury FBLA Chapter competed at the State Leadership Conference on April 6-April 8th in Omaha, NE. FBLA Chapters throughout the entire state of Nebraska came and participated in this competition. 16 Fairbury FBLA members met the requirements to attend and compete at SLC. Each of these members chose 5 different business related competitions to compete in. In order to make it on the awards stage at SLC, students had to place in the top 8% in their respective competition, with the Top 3 in each competition making it to the National Leadership Conference. Fairbury FBLA had a great showing this year at SLC with the following students making it on stage:
Justin Peterson- 5th Place Business Plan, 3rd Place Securities and Investments
Isaac Robertson- 4th Place Introduction to Financial Math (Isaac will be able to compete at Nationals, due to one competitor not able to attend NLC)
Jaelle Johnson- 4th Place Middle LEvel Career Exploration
Mikasa Lierman- Honorable Mention- Introduction to Business
Megg Vaughn- Honorable Mention Job Interview
National Leadership Conference Qualifiers:
Justin Peterson, Jacob Johnson, and Isaac Robertson — Awarded 3rd Place in the American Enterprise Project
They will compete in Anaheim, CA for NLC on June 28-July 2 2017.
Prom Royalty
Congratulations to Justin and Hannah for being crowned Prom King and Queen.
The following were candidates for Prom Court:
Justin Peterson, Hannah Yantz, Megg Vaughn, Tanner Novotny, Shaye Stall, Brent Hirsch, Keden Boeve, Ashley Jackson, Althea Esteller and Blake Bauer.
Students Compete at Skills USA
Students from Fairbury High School competed at the SkillsUSA State Leadership Conference March 30-April 1st. There were many students from all over the state of Nebraska competing. This year was the first year that the state leadership conference was held in Grand Island, Nebraska at Fonner Park.
SkillsUSA is a national organization for students in career and technical education. The goal of SkillsUSA is to replenish the workforce in America with skilled laborers and to help companies find quality people to fill the ever growing demand for industrial technical jobs.
Students that competed were Blake Bauer, Tanner Novotny, Dalton Buxton, Devon Trimm, Reed Williams, Zachary Holes, Jessa Eden, Madison Gregory, and Tayler Shellhase.
Fairbury finished in first place with Tanner Novotny and Dalton Buxton in Drone Technology. Students were judged on how they flew the drone through an obstacle course, along with adding information to a notebook. That was worth over 700 points. The boys had to come up with many things in the notebook including a paragraph on how drones will be used more and more in the future. Tanner and Dalton finished first out of around 20 teams and received gold medals.
FHS also had two students complete in cosmetology, Jessa Eden and Madison Gregory. The competition was fierce and Madison came up with a first place win in the state of Nebraska. She will represent the state of Nebraska in Louisville Kentucky in June 19th-23rd. There she will go up against students from many different states. Good job to both of you!
An email will be coming from the state so students can see feedback on the judges comments.
2017 Speech Team Has Great Season
The Fairbury Speech team had a great 2017 season! The speech team ended up with 43 medals total, which was 12 more than last year. The following participated in speech this year.
Garret Ragland
Bethany Klaumann
Althea Esteller
Britney Scheetz
Michaela Buchli
Nichole Harris
Jayson Klaumann
Taylea Mills
Dakota Gladson
Lauren Patton
We look forward to continuing the success we had this year, and look to add more Fairbury Jeffs to the team! I want to thank all the parents, administration, and kids for participating in this great activity.
READING CLASSICS STATE CHAMPIONS!
Congratulations to Fairbury’s Division II Reading Classics Team! The team of Aldo Ramos, Eliza Kroeker, Casidy Sipek, Cora Tatro, and Ellie Tucker competed Saturday March 25 at the State Competition here in Fairbury. They competed against nine other teams in the semi-final round, which was consisted of three 10 question rounds. They were four points ahead of their nearest competitors to win the semi finals and move on to the buzzer round. The buzzer round if a 15 question round with the team with the most points at the end of the 15 questions declared the winner. It was a close score of 5 to 4 with Fairbury maintaining a steady lead over the Beatrice team. These students have worked hard as a team to read all 75 books on their list. Congratulations team. WE ARE PROUD OF YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENT!
What Did the Bird Do When He Got Scared?
Geometry students in Mrs. Julie Petersen’s class built vocabulary words today. Polyhedrons are constructed with faces, edges and vertices. Our clay and toothpicks were a little messy, but a lot creative. In the pictures you can see tetrahedrons, pentahedrons, hexahedrons, heptahedrons and octahedrons. Most examples include two models of each polyhedron.
Inductive reasoning allows us to look at the data, find a pattern and make a generalization about that pattern. Students put their heads together to discover Euler’s Formula: V + F – E = 2. That is read “vertices plus faces minus edges equals 2”. Building was fun! Thinking was hard. It’s easier to Google a formula, but today they were responsible for their own discovery. Add these experiences together and long-term memory is the winner!
Here is our riddle for the day: “What did the bird do when he got scared? Poly he’d run!” (Get it? Polyhedron!)
