Category: Activities

Three Fairbury High School Band Students have been selected to participate in the 2017 Class B All State Band on Friday, March 31 and Saturday, April 1 at Grand Island Northwest High School. Students representing Fairbury are Ashley Griffee, flute; Jerod Hughes, trombone; Jayson Klaumann, percussion. Jerod Hughes is a four-year member of the Class B All State Band.

23 Fairbury Junior High Band Students attended the York Middle School Honor Band Day on Saturday, February 25, 2017. Mr. Curtis Forsch, band director at York Public Schools, hosted the event, with Jim Kucera of Waverly Middle School and Becky Wilhelm of Norris Middle School conducting the eighth and seventh grade bands. There were over 300 students from 24 schools participating. Representing Fairbury were seventh graders: Steven Aden, Ashton Blobaum, Zane Grizzle, Aly Kuzelka, Makenzie Mills, Gavin Schramm, and Riley Vculek, and eighth graders Brooklen Bear, Mallonee Biehl, Konnor Hasselbring, Ethan Hintz, Shelby Klaumann, Briaunna Knothe, Leah Mach, Hailie Nicholson, Brynn Novotny, Jadyn Rasmussen, Josh Robertson, Keely Schramm, Jasmine Snyder, Jordan Tracy, Ty Tucker, and Brylee Yantz.

The Nebraska FFA Foundation was pleased to present Jason Hughes, Jared Engelman, and Sara Huss of the Fairbury FFA Chapter their very own FFA jacket.  These students were one of 265 students selected statewide as part of the Nebraska FFA Foundation’s “Blue Jacket Bright Futures” program.

“All of us who have been FFA members understand the excitement of putting on your blue jacket for the fit time and wearing it proudly as you represent your chapter and state.  You wear that jacket with pride to many events and competitions as an FFA member, :said Stacey Agnew, Executive Director of the Nebraska FFA Foundation.  “FFA jackets are costly and this is a great way for deserving students to apply and be selected to receive a jacket.  This program rewards and encourages members who are eager to continue Nebraska’s outstanding FFA tradition.”

This year’s program brought in nearly 600 applications from members across the state and of all ages.  “This is one of the bigger responses we’ve had for this program yet,” Agnew said.  “We are excited to see them wear their jackets with pride, representing an outstanding legacy of youth in agriculture.”

Agricultural educators, former state officers, FFA officer teams, and other generous contributors have come forward to support the annual campaign. Contact Stacey Agnew at 402-472-5846 or stacey@neffafoundation.org for questions.  

The mission of the Nebraska FFA Foundation is to enhance quality agricultural education/FFA programs in order to achieve excellence in leadership development, curriculum innovation and scholastic advancement of students.  

Four Fairbury High School Students were selected to participate in the Doane University Fall Festival of Winds on Saturday, November 5, 2016. Students were placed in one of three honor bands, rehearsed from 9a.m.-2:45p.m. and then performed a final concert at Doane’s Heckman Auditorium. Those chosen from Fairbury were Ashley Griffee, flute; Seth Griger, alto saxophone; Isaac Robertson, trumpet; and Zacc Snyder, trombone.

-Grant provided by Farm Credit Services of America Working Here Fund for Agriculture Education

FIARBURY, NEBRASKA – Fairbury FFA received a $2,000 Working Here Fund grant for metal fabrication dreams. The grant is provided through Farm Credit Services of America’s (FCSAmerica) Working Here Fund.

Fairbury FFA will use funds to continue updating the metal fabrication and welding equipment of the Fairbury Agricultural Education shop. Funds will be used to purchase a 12” Grizzly Pan and Box Brake Bender, a Grizzly Compact Scroll Bender and a Hypertherm Plasma Cutter. These tools will offer hands-on learning experiences for the students, enhancing their skills and ability to use them in a career someday. They can use these tools to make custom metal fabrication and bring out their ideas and vision.

“There is a need for more skilled metal fabrication workers and welders in the community that will be self-employed and workers that are interested in some of the businesses in town that work with metal,” said Thomas Dux, Agriculture Education Instructor at Fairbury Schools. “I would love for my students to gain all of these experiences of bending metal, cutting metal, and fabricating metal in the Fairbury Agricultural Education Shop.”
“At FCSAmerica, we value the opportunity to support the future of agriculture,” said Amy Blomenberg, vice president of retail operations at FCSAmerica’s Beatrice office.

Fairbury FFA is one of 99 organizations to receive a Working Here Fund grant in the third quarter of 2016. FCSAmerica awarded $133,405 during the latest grant cycle ending September 30, 2016.

About Fairbury FFA
The mission of Fairbury FFA is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education. One of the major career success areas that has been a focus the past two years in the Fairbury FFA Chapter and the Fairbury Agricultural Education Program has been the Power, Structural, and Technical Systems Career Pathway. This focus has been updating and improving the metal fabrication and welding equipment.

About Farm Credit Services of America
Farm Credit Services of America is proud to finance the growth of rural America, including the special needs of young and beginning producers. With $25.4 billion in assets and $4.5 billion in members’ equity, FCSAmerica is one of the region’s leading providers of credit and insurance services to farmers, ranchers, agribusiness and rural residents in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. Learn more at www.fcsamerica.com.

By Michaela Buchli Fairbury FFA Parliamentarian

On October 19th at midnight, the Fairbury FFA Chapter set out from Lincoln on their way to the 89th National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. While they were there, the group of ten, plus advisor Thomas Dux, attended various workshops and fairs. In attendance from the Fairbury Chapter were Jonathan Engelman, Carson Bohlmeyer, Sarah McCown, Brock Barton, Jacob Maschmann, Delaney Miller, Kaylee Sipek, Michaela Buchli, Kennedy DeBoer, and Cora DeBoer. They also had the chance to take a tour of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, complete with a racing museum and gift shop. They went to a leadership workshop that discussed being versatile. There is a large career fair held in the convention center each year, where various businesses and colleges have booths to give the FFA kids a chance to learn more about agricultural opportunities.They also went to watch some of the national creed speaking finalists, as well as some of the parliamentary procedure teams compete for a national title. Unique to the state of Nebraska, the Nebraska chapters sponsor a dance on two nights of convention that are only for Nebraska FFA students. The Fairbury FFA chapter attended both of these dances, and enjoyed meeting and visiting with students from other chapters closer to home. FHS senior Madison Black auditioned and was selected to sing with the National FFA Chorus. She stayed in Indianapolis all week, performing at various events. The chapter attends convention every year, and plans to continue this tradition. It was a full week, but they all enjoyed venturing outside the comfort of home and into the sea of blue.