Join us on Thursday, January 27th from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM during the boys and girls basketball games for the Rotary Tailgate sponsored by the Fairbury Rotary Club.
Rotary Tailgate This Thursday!
Step Ahead Early Childhood Program Application
If you have a preschool age child, please fill out the online application for the Step Ahead Early Childhood Program at Central Elementary. This year, applications will be reviewed using a point system. You will be notified at a later date for acceptance into preschool.
January Students of the Month
January Students of the Month are listed below and included on the Jeff List.
7th Grade –
Alexandra Ladwig
Tripp Schultz
8th Grade –
Allison Krumwiede
Westen Graham
9-12th Grade –
Emily Woosley
Connor Gwin
2nd Dose Covid Shot Clinic for Students
The 2nd dose clinic for students who received first doses on 01/11/2022, will be Tuesday, February 1, 2022, at the Fairbury Extension Office located on 5th and F Streets. The clinic will be open from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM.
Stephanie Engelman Receives the 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 Stephanie Engelman, Central Elementary’s Office Secretary, as the recipient of the January Jeffs’ Best Award! These are her nomination statements:
Stephanie has always been kind, caring, helpful, and makes me feel welcomed when I walk into the office. She is very positive in what she does whether it be helping a student or helping me when needed. Steph is one of our many secretaries that greets many people, takes peoples’ calls, helps where she is needed at the moment, and always has a smile on her face. She is one of many that are deserving of the “Jeff Best,” but this is her time to shine as it’s a New Year!
Stephanie is a great worker at central elementary! She is always such a great person to go to for help with anything you have going on. She will make sure that she greets you with a smile and a “Good morning!” or “Have a great day!” whenever anyone walks past. She has such a positive attitude that is just contagious. She has helped me tremendously to figure out everything about the school which, as a new employee, is so much appreciated. Not only is she good with other employees but also the students at Central. She does so much for the school. I think that explains why she is well qualified to be nominated.
Stephanie is always willing to jump in where she is needed. She helps take care of the students who come to the office when the nurse is out of the building. Also, she is there to assist with behaviors, if needed. Stephanie always has a smile on her face regardless of how her day might be going. I want to thank Steph for all she does for our building.
Banks-Glenn Scholarship Opportunity
New to the FPS Foundation scholarship opportunities in 2022 are the Banks-Glenn Scholarships. The Banks-Glenn Scholarship funds are generated from an endowment of $1.8 million managed by the Nebraska Community Foundation. This money was endowed to the FPS Foundation by Joseph Banks, a 1958 graduate of Fairbury High School. Fairbury Public Schools is the beneficiary of this endowment and will have around $30,000 for scholarship opportunities for Fairbury High School graduates in 2022. The following year the amount is expected to double!
For the Class of 2022 – The following scholarship amounts will be awarded to the deserving recipients:
2 – $6,500 per year, 4 yr renewable scholarship
2 – $2,500 per year, 2 yr renewable scholarship (emphasis for Community College or Trade Schools)
For previous Graduates of Fairbury High School:
4 – $4,000 for 1 year with a special emphasis for those wanting to continue their education for a Master’s Degree, Teaching Degree, Medical Field, Trade School or Agriculture.
Application is due by April 1, 2022
Click to Apply.
FBLA American Enterprise Project
During the month of November, twenty-four members of Fairbury FBLA conducted their annual American Enterprise project. This year, three classes of Fairbury Elementary fourth-graders were taught the meaning of American Enterprise, the importance of spending locally and the multiplier effect which happens when money is spent within the community. Third graders were able to set up a cookie baking business, bake cookies at the high school, and market their cookies to the high school and junior high students. With over $400 in revenue collected over three days, this year’s cookie sales were a big success! After paying all expenses, the remaining profit will be split between the three fourth-grade classes. Each individual class will decide how to spend their business profits. The annual American Enterprise project is enjoyed by all students. FBLA members enjoy working with the younger kids, and the fourth-graders love making a trip to the high school. “Overall, I thought this project was pretty fun,” FBLA President, Zane Grizzle said. “We (FBLA members) got a lot out of this project and were able to help fourth graders understand what goes into making a business and understand the American Enterprise System.
Renee Kettelhut Receives the 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 Renee Kettelhut, Chance School Special Education Teacher, as the recipient of the November Jeffs’ Best Award!
These are her nomination statements:
Renee is technically a first year teacher, but walking through her classroom you would never guess that. She is extremely effective at building relationships with students, communicating with parents, and doing everything possible to help students be successful. Starting her teaching career in a behavior program during a pandemic, is hands down the most challenging way to start a teaching career. Her classroom is very student centered. She is persistent in doing what is best for students in an extremely challenging school year. When students or staff encounter problems or barriers, she problem solves quickly, efficiently, and with a professional demeanor. We are extremely lucky to have such a naturally talented educator join our team. She deserves to be recognized for her resiliency and dedication to our students.
She has been one of the most patient people I have ever met especially with working in the chance building where anything can happen at any moment. I appreciate her for always having a positive attitude and always seeing the upside of everything.
Renee is a dedicated and very hard working SPED Teacher. She always gives the kids everything she’s got even when the students are testing her patience to the extreme. She is working hard to complete all of the special education paperwork and requirements, and at times, this can be overwhelming for a first year teacher. She always comes in with a smile and positive attitude which is felt by both the students and other staff. Working at Chance has it’s challenges but Renee is committed to giving these students the best possible chance to succeed. FPS and the students are lucky to have her working at Chance.
Renee is someone who goes above and beyond for her students. She is constantly trying to think of new ways to get students to engage in their learning. Even as a first year teacher she has taken the lead on several projects to promote student success. She is constantly working towards the best solution for any issue that arises and is an amazing asset to our team. We are very fortunate to have such a caring, hard-working person as part of our team and district
Congratulations Renee!
Digging In…
Real Colors
College Management students took the Real Colors assessment this morning. there were 3 Gold students plus myself and 1 Blue in the room. A big thanks to Extension Educator Darci Pesek for the training!
Proprietorships
Learning about the advantages/disadvantages of Proprietorships, Partnerships, and Corporations through a tower building challenge. The partnership won this time! (Mrs. Dux)
Trash Pick Up
Planting Trees for Tomorrow
Thank you to the Class of 1965 and George Acker for letting the Fairbury Ag Education students help plant memorial trees and teaching us about the ins and outs of planting trees. (Mr. Thomas Dux)
The Future of FPS Volleyball
4/5 Graders practiced their volleyball skills this week in Ms. Faltin’s PE class! The future looks good! (Ms Ashley Faltin)
Wave Machine
We’re surrounded by waves! Sound and light travel as waves to our ears and eyes. Ocean waves crash onto the beach. Radio waves broadcast music to our cars. We even use waves to cook our food – in microwaves! The students in Mr. Gerth’s class created wave machines to see how all different kinds of waves move! (Mr. Gerths)
Go Fish!
Celebrating and practicing our alphabet while playing “Go Fish” (Mrs. Jodi Veldt)
Raising the Guatemalan Flag in Spanish 2!
Rigoberto, our new student, gifted us his countryś flag to enjoy! (Mrs. Jodi Veldt)
What’s on your plate this semester? Student-Athletes, College SENCAP Classes, Extracurricular activities, and jobs…they juggle it all. (Mrs. Melissa Dux)
7-12 Band and Vocal Music Starting Strong
7-12 Band (Mr. Dusso)
Wow what a great start to the year so far! High school band camp was a huge success with the final performance at the Wilber Czech Days Parade. The 7-12 bands have been hard at work getting ready for Pep Band and Marching season. The HS Band looks to premiere Part one of our World of Warcraft Halftime show at our first home football game Friday September 3rd!!! JH Band has been hard at work learning marching commands and mastering out school song “Colors” to march in the homecoming parade in September!
HS Choir
Great start to the year! We are already making music and singing together very well. We have a couple of students interested in auditioning for the All State Choir and have begun to work on music and techniques to aid them in those auditions. We also have begun to learn a song that we will be performing in honor of our veterans in the community on Veterans Day.
Crimson Elite
Show Choir is Back! Crimson Elite has returned to its roots as a competitive Show Choir. Dance Boot camp is coming up and we will be getting ready to start here in September. The show choir season doesn’t officially start until December, so we will have this first semester to get ourselves familiar with what a show choir is!! This year’s theme?! 80’s!! Are you a 9-12th grader that still would like an opportunity to audition? We will hold a second chance audition, Friday September 3rd at 7:30am in the music room! i hope to see you there!
Organizational Recruitment Party
The organizational recruitment meeting was held on August 23rd at Camp Jefferson. They had a great turn out, good food, and fun times. Everyone was glad they could get together and celebrate the beginning of the school year!
Solo Cup Stack Challenge
7th Grade STEM students kicked off their first week of STEM challenges with a partner, team building activity called the “Solo Cup Stack Challenge”. They were given limited time, specific materials, and the requirement of not being able to touch the cups with anything but the string/rubber bands. They had to work together with their partner(s) to figure out the best strategy to engineer their cup tower the fastest!(Mrs. Carly Winter)
Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun
In Miss Lassek’s 2nd grade classroom, the students heard a new story during the first week of school. Miss Lassek read the story “Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun.” This story outlines the importance of having courage, the importance of embracing our differences and the importance of never giving up. After hearing the story, the students took on a new challenge. The students were required to build the tallest tower in the classroom with only a few supplies. The students were given 20 mini marshmallows, 1 large marshmallow, 20 dry spaghetti noodles, a piece of paper and 5 inches of tape. The important details of the task was that the tower must stand on its own and hold the large marshmallow on the top. The students felt the challenge and difficulty of the task but never gave up! Congratulations to our winner, Carter Petersen for building the tallest tower to support the large marshmallow! (Mrs. Lassek)
First-hand Accounts of Teaching and Learning in Fairbury Public Schools.
Intro to Business presented their Food Truck Pitches to a panel of potential investors today. (Mrs. Melissa Dux)
COLT 2021! Fairbury FFA Team Building with the Helium Stick! (Mr. Dux)
No electricity? No problem. Still finding ways to teach and review for finals and projects.
Accounting finals continue even if there are no lights today.
Karly and Madi preparing breakfast casseroles for FHS staff! We appreciate you and Mrs. Beranek!
Math manipulative for hands-on learning with surface area and volume. I used all of these items this morning for 7th grade and geometry!
Field trip to Metal Quest for Industrial Tech. (Mr. Shane Haley)
Cake Wars – An intense Cake Wars competition concluded last week on Culinary. Here are the results: Allison won best All- Around Cake with her cake pictured below. Congratulations Allison!! (Mrs. Emily Manning)
Makena received best decorated cake for her patriotic themed cake (inside and out)!
Nylah got best tasting frosting with her Strawberry Lemonade cake.
Addy received best tasting cake with her s’mores cupcakes!
Mrs. Dux’s 6th Grade Class – Now Seniors
Honors Night. Congratulations Students!
Our Spanish Club volunteers this morning. Thank you Ethan, Gavin, Jacob, and Zane We know that recycling is necessary to care for the Earth. (Mrs. Johnson)
Intro to Business class presented their International Business Projects today. (Mrs. Melissa Dux)
This guy is doing amazing work!! Our choir sounded fantastic! Great job!! (Mr. Dusso)
Last night FCCLA members helped keep Fairbury beautiful by cleaning up McNish park. So proud of these members who put their community first! (Mrs. Manning)
5th grade students in Mrs. Ruhnke’s class are working together on four tasks to solve the puzzles and clues in an Escape Room Activity! (Mrs. Ruhnke)
Dr. Winter and the Energizers taught a smoking/vaping prevention unit to Jefferson Intermediate School 4th grade students. The unit included several hands on activities. It was a great experience for our 4th graders and they had some amazing questions! (Dr. Emily Winter)
Fairbury FFA Secretaries. 60 year’s apart. Grandpa and granddaughter. Awesome stuff.
What is the best deal for fountain pop in Fairbury? Students calculate volume while using the four Cs of education: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. (Mrs. Julie Petersen)
I challenged them to make the Worst PowerPoint Ever! Over the top animations, poor design, lots of pictures, etc. After all, you have to know the design rules to break them! (Mrs. Melissa Dux)
Check out the cool things happening in STEM (Mrs. Carly Winter)
Skills Students Working on the Playground in Jansen. (Mr. Haley)
Lady Jeffs Win The Dan Tesar Invitational! Scoring 164 points!!
1st Grade “Moosical” (Mrs. Schoenrock)
Prom King and Queen
5th Grade Students Show Creativity (Mrs. Bartels)
Students at Jefferson are preparing for the Kiwanis Track Meet on May 5th. Thank you Cory Schweitzer for organizing the event and preparing students!
Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Schoenrock and Mr. Schweitzer conducted team building drills. 6th graders completed an activity called “The River”. They had 2 min. to work out a plan to get to “dry” land using scooters, pool noodles and jump ropes.
6th grade students demonstrating a lot of effort in Mrs. Bonar’s Class.They completed a digital “Breakout Room”.
Storm Water Experiments (4th grade Gerths)
5th and 6th Grade Concert (Mrs. Schoenrock and Mr. Dusso)
Friday 30 minute challenge: Applying their knowledge of product packaging to create their own themed Happy Meal Box and toy proposal (Mrs. Melissa Dux)
Painting Walls and Building Houses (Mr. Shane Haley)
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