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.
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!
On top of our State Capitol building in Lincoln, NE there stands a statue known as the “Sower”, standing barefoot and sowing the seeds from his bag. This is symbolic to our state as we continue to be a major agricultural state, and therefore the Sower was chosen as the symbol of the Nebraska Children’s Choice Literary Award.
According to the Nebraska Library Association, we hope that these books will sow seeds which will:
“Stimulate children’s thinking, introduce different types of literature, encourage independent reading, increase library skills, and foster an appreciation for excellence in writing and illustrating.”
Students across Nebraska are encouraged to vote for their favorite book out of the 10 nominated titles for each category: Primary, Intermediate, and Young Adult. The due date for this voting is April 15. For more information about online voting and book information, visit the links below!
Information for Young Adult Book Nominees
Our Jr/Sr High School Library is proud to provide all 10 of the Young Adult titles to our students each year, and currently we have them on display for checkout in the media center. Stop in, find one that interests you, and let the voting begin!
It was a great day to be a Fairbury FFA Jeff! On January 20th, 14 students of the Fairbury FFA Chapter competed at the 2016 District 5 Leadership Skills Events contest. This year these contests were held in York at the Holthus Convention Center. Fairbury FFA members competed in a variety of contests throughout the day. Ryan Umland, Garret Ragland, Althea Esteller, Patrick Ondrak, Blake Bauer, and Madison Black all competed in the Senior Parliamentary Procedure contest and received a red ribbon. Carson Bohlmeyer, Trevin Likens, Cody Huss, and Tyler Heidemann competed in the Agricultural Demonstration contest where they showed the judges how to process baby pigs. They received a blue ribbon for their demonstration. Ryan Umland competed in the Natural Resource speaking contest where he discussed the importance of the Ogallala Aquifer. He received a purple ribbon for his speech. Michaela Buchli and Tori Likens both competed in the Creed Speaking contest and both received a blue ribbon. Lauren Patton competed in the Discovery Speaking contest where she discussed the “Wide World of Agriculture”. She received a red ribbon for her speech. Kennedy DeBoer competed in the Agricultural Literacy contest where she discussed how farmers harvest and plant their crops. She received a blue ribbon for her speech. Garret Ragland and Althea Esteller both competed in the Job Interview contest and both received a purple ribbon. Garret was then named the District 5 Job Interview Champion and will be representing the Fairbury FFA Chapter at the Nebraska State FFA Convention in April. Congratulations to all of the FFA members who participated in this year’s Leadership Skills Events contests.
With the cold dreary “gray” weather outside, one might not think of “gray” as a positive color. But inside the Fairbury High School gymnasium Gray was the color of the night.
Gray is the color of diabetes awareness and in an effort to raise awareness of Type 1 diabetes (T1D) the IN Group (a T1D support group) and Fairbury Public Schools hosted a Gray Out during the Fairbury vs York basketball games on Friday, January 22nd. T-shirts were sold prior to the game and business and family sponsorships were collected. With the close to 200 t-shirts sold and the sponsorships the IN Group raised more than $2000. This money will be used for camp scholarships for students attending diabetes camp and money will be sent to JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) to help find a cure for T1D.
The IN Group was organized when a need was seen for a parent and student support group for the six T1D students at FPS. The group has supported each other, a newly diagnosed student and their family, a new student to town, and adult’s in the community have come to encourage and share their own T1D life stories. The mission of the IN Group is to raise awareness through education of this silent, chronic disease.
Type 1 diabetes, which was formerly known as insulin-dependent diabetes, affects the body’s immune system destroying the cells that release insulin, eventually eliminating insulin production completely. Without insulin, cells cannot absorb sugar (glucose), which is needed to produce energy. So, if insulin is not on board to absorb the sugar you are not able to functions normally.
The symptoms of T1D usually start in childhood or young adulthood. People often seek medical attention because they are seriously ill from sudden symptoms of high blood sugar. T1D cannot be prevented nor is it anything that a person does to acquire it.
Diabetes greatly increases a person’s risk for a range of serious complications. Monitoring and managing is the key to prevention of these complications. It remains the leading cause of blindness and kidney failure. It continues to be a critical risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
**Statistics
Children’s hospital told one family 1 in 500 children get T1D
In FPS 1 in 147 students have T1D
200 is the number of times a diabetic thinks about being a diabetic every day
4,050 is the average number of finger sticks in the 1st year after diagnosis
40,500 finger pokes over 10 years
National Honor Society inducted ten new members in the Fairbury chapter. Students were selected by a faculty council based on scholarship, leadership, character and service. FHS has been part of this national organization since 1936 inducting new members every year. Chapter president, Ryan Umland, lead the ceremony with readings, candles, signatures, a pledge and a poem.
New members include: Madison Black, Emily Burkley, Jonathan Engelman, Althea Esteller, Jacob Johnson, Macy Ohlde, Britney Scheetz, Evie Schwab, Jolie Scott and Megg Vaughn
Members carried over from last year include: Nick Christiansen, Halle Knigge, Mark Kroeker, Lindsay Lee, Trevin Likens, Paul Mach, Patrick Ondrak, Justin Peterson, Anna Schouboe, Ryan Umland and Hannah Yantz.
These students are expected to be leaders in their school and community, while maintaining a high GPA, distinguished character and active service.
17-18 FAIRBURY CIVIC FOUNDATION POSTING & APPLICATION
17-18 FAIRBURY PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION POSTING & APPLICATION
17-18 FAIRBURY LOCAL SCHOLARSHIP POSTING & APPLICATION’S
REINKE MANUFACTURING SCHOLARSHIP
In Ms. Engle’s 8th Grade Exploratory Careers class, the students are learning about the 16 Career Clusters and possible careers they may be interested in the future. This week they worked on the Architecture and Construction Cluster. Each student was required to work on a floor plan of their dream house. Many of the students chose to use the Planner 5D app on their Chromebooks to design their plans. They added everything from the basic furniture to pools, pianos and weight rooms to just list a few. They even had the ability to work on interior design playing with paint color, rugs, art and other extras. The 
students enjoyed some hands on work with technology and the chance to let their creativity shine!
