Cordell Vrbka, a Seward High Senior, was selected the October Youth Rotarian of the Month and recognized and honored at the recent Seward Rotary Club noon luncheon meeting on Wednesday, October 2, 2019 at the Jones Bank Auditorium.  Cordell is the son of Jake and Becky Vrbka of Malcolm.  He was introduced by Rotarian Matt Dominy of the Seward Rotary Youth Rotarian Committee and he presented a Rotary Club banner and information on Rotary and Rotary International.  

While Cordell is very involved with a host of extracurricular activities at Seward High, he is first and foremost a scholar!  He is always on the SHS Academic Honor Roll and a longtime leader in the SHS National Honor Society. He is a leader at Seward High and as a sophomore, he was selected the Hugh O’ Brian (HOBY) representative, and is a HOBY Alumni.  He was also selected an Outdoor Education Counselor and was the SHS Boys State Representative for the Seward American Legion Club as a Junior.  He is one of the lead Student Ambassadors for Seward High and has participated many times in the SHS Quiz Bowl program.

Music has a priority in Cordell’s life and he is a leader and a longtime-four year member of the SHS Swing Choir-serving as Dance Captain, he is a member of the SHS Select Choir, he has been involved with the musical his entire high school career and participates in the annual Concordia University’s Summer Youth Choir.  Cordell was a member and leader of the SHS Marching Bluejay Band and the SHS Wind Ensemble for three years.  He has participated in a host of special choirs and honor band programs over the years as well as the SHS Pep Band! 

Cordell has been a member of the SHS Track Team for two years of high school and participated in Cross Country for three years as a participant and one year as the student manager. 

He has been involved as a leader in the SHS One Act program all four years and a leader with the SHS Speech team, participating in Humorous Prose, Entertaining Speech, Drama Team and Duet competitions.  Cordell participated in the VFW Voice of Democracy Speech Contest and Poetry Outloud as well.  His essay won the First Place award at the local Seward Optimist Essay Contest in 2018-2019 and the essay was selected to be read as at the state level.  He has been involved over the years in a host of activities at the Nebraska State Fair in the Education Division.

Cordell has been a longtime leader in the Seward High SkillsUSA program.  He was a local officer and elected a State SkillsUSA officer the last two years.  He was the state SkillsUSA News Reporter last year and is currently serving as the State SkillsUSA Vice-President.  He participated in various SkillsUSA contests on the State Level and was selected State Champion in Medical Assisting, and competed in Mousetrap contests and Opening and Closing Ceremony.  He medaled six times at State SkillsUSA conferences, participated in the National SkillsUSA program in the areas of Medical Assisting twice-placing 7^th nationally last year and 5^th place nationally this year.  He has been a state voting delegate for SkillsUSA and won the SkillsUSA Statesman award twice and won the SkillsUSA academic achievement pin three times.  He was recently named a SkillsUSA Distinguished Ambassador for Nebraska.  

.Cordell is also very involved in the SHS FFA program and competes on a variety of levels at the District and State Contests. He serves as the FFA Treasurer and competes in Parliamentary Procedure, Livestock Management and Veterinary Science FFA Contests.   He is also a state Finalist and very involved in the SHS Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) in the area of speech/public address, health care skills, business simulations, and business math.  He was also a leader in the Junior Achievement Stock Market Challenge for three years.  Cordell was also involved in the SHS FCCLA –Family Community Career Leaders of America.

Cordell is employed seasonally as an independent salesman for all the UNL Football games as a “hawker,” selling a variety of products to the guests and fans at the UNL Home football games.  He also was a longtime volunteer for the Lincoln Children’s Zoo during the summers since 2016-earning over 450 hours of community service!

In the area of “Service Above Self,” Cordell has earned almost 1000 hours of service with his variety of volunteer efforts.  His list of service is long, with 450 hours of service at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo alone.  He has earned many of his hours of volunteerism through his involvement with his variety of service organizations, collecting food, promoting Blood Donations and even teacher thank you/recognition day activities.  He was recently honored with the Silver Level of the Presidential Volunteer Service Award for almost 300 hours of volunteer service.

Cordell is a member of the Pivot Community of Faith Church in Lincoln and a voice of the youth in their congregation.  

He plans to attend the University of Nebraska and major in Pre-Veterinarian Studies and a Minor in Fisheries and Wildlife, with a long term goal of being an Exotic Animal Veterinarian.  

Cordell was presented with a Book Scholarship from the Seward Rotary Club and will again be honored and thanked in May at the SHS Senior Honors Night at the SHS Theater.  At that time, the Seward Rotary Club will announce the Seward Youth Rotarian of the Year and presented that student with the Youth Rotarian of the Year Scholarship.  One Youth Rotarian is selected every month by the Seward Rotary Club to an SHS Senior, with the application available in the SHS Counselor’s office.  

Hannah Kinzelberger, of Oberwaltersdorf, Austria is the newest international student attending Seward High School, in Seward, Nebraska and was welcomed to Seward by the members of the Seward Rotary Club at their recent meeting on Wednesday, October 2 at the Jones Bank.  She attended the luncheon, club meeting and program on the recent Concordia Plum Creek Children’s Literacy Festival. 

Hannah was introduced to the membership by Rotarian Jill Johnson, the SHS Vice Principal and presented with some local gifts from the Rotary Club and a special Seward Rotary Club banner, to welcome her to Seward, Nebraska and the USA!   She is the daughter of Gerhard and Gabrielle Kinzelberger.  Her host family is John and Jana Hughes of rural Seward. She is taking a full class schedule and participating and part of the Seward High Volleyball team.

Photo L-R Seward Rotary President Kurth Brashear, Hannah Kinzelberger-SHS International Student from Austria and Rotarian Senator Mark Kolterman.  The Rotarians welcomed Hannah to the Seward Rotary Club, Seward, Nebraska and the USA.

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SHS Newsletter - October, 2019

SHS Senior, Madalyn Lobmeyer of Seward was honored at the recent Seward Rotary Club meeting on Wednesday, September 4, 2019 at their weekly Rotary Club’s noon luncheon meeting at the Jones Bank auditorium in Seward.  She is the daughter of Jonathan and Amy Lobmeyer of Seward and was introduced and welcomed to the meeting by Rotarian Clark A. Kolterman.  Clark Kolterman shared many of the activities of Madalyn and spoke on the numerous accomplishments and honors she has achieved during her high school career.  Madalyn was presented with a packet of materials promoting Rotary and the community of Seward and was also presented with a Seward Rotary Club banner.

Madalyn is a very involved student but her academic efforts is a priority.   She has consistently been on the SHS Honor Roll with a 4.05 GPA. She is a longtime member of the SHS Quiz Bowl team.  She was recently named a semi-finalist for the National Merit program.  She is a member of the Seward High National Honor Society.

Madalyn participated in the State Fair Competitions in the Education!  She has been involved with the TriMathalon at Doane University during her high school career, as well as UNL Math Day Competition honoree and has received many P.R.I.D.E. Awards from the SHS Faculty.  She attended the All Girls All Math Summer Camp and was an AMC Test Participant. She is certified in Microsoft Excel M.O.U.S. in Work, Excel and PowerPoint. 

Madalyn was a member of the SkillsUSA Vocational Education service organization at Seward High, and also a member of the SHS Key Club.  She was named a Hugh O Brian Youth Leader Pioneer (HOBY). She also participated in the GFWC NFWC Sophomore Pilgrimage at the State Capitol.

Madalyn has been involved with Speech and Drama at SHS and was a state qualifier for the last two years! She has been involved with the SHS One Act program and SHS Musicals her entire high school career, also serving as a Stage Manager for the Musical.  She is a member of the SHS Speech team, participating in Persuasive Speech, Informative Speaking, Humorous Prose Literature and the Drama Team.  

She participated in the local VFW Voice of Democracy Oratorical/Speech Contest and was a District Finalist the last three years.    She has been successful in the local and state Poetry Outload program as well-was named the Outstanding Freshman Presenter, selected the SHS Champion and Poetry Outloud State Finalist and SHS Outstanding Junior Presenter in the Poetry Outloud Contest.  She was the State Champion in the Nebraska Oratorical Speech Contest and competed at the National Contest in St. Louis, Mo.

She is active in the SHS Music program, especially instrumental-playing in the SHS Marching Band, SHS Concert Band, SHS Wind Ensemble, SHS Pep Band and the Underclassman Honor Band and plays the french horn and mellophone.  She is a member of the SHS Select Choir.  She was a member of the SHS Student International Travel Program this last summer and visited and experienced France, England and Amsterdam with a delegation from Seward and Seward High.

Madalyn is very involved with his church in many volunteer aspects in her church. She is a member of the St. John Lutheran Church in Seward.  

Her “Service Above Self” service in the community is his continued work with the community projects with Key Club’s Food Drive programs and the Key Club UNICEF Children’s drive and their annual Multi-Cultural Affair. She is also involved with the Mobile Food Distribution the St. John Mobile Pantry in Seward and has been a longtime volunteer to help those less fortunate.  

Madalyn is employed outside of school at the JD Coffee Shop and served as an intern in the Seward County Attorney’s office.  

She plans to attend either MIT, RIT or the University of Nebraska and Major in Software Engineering, and has not decided yet on a final area or career after college.

Madalyn was presented with a Seward Rotary “Book” Scholarship will be again recognized and honored at the SHS Spring Academic Night and she is now a finalist for the Seward Rotary Youth Rotarian of the Year scholarship.  Applications have been emailed to all SHS Seniors for the Youth Rotarian of the Month Award and can also be obtained from the SHS Counselor’s office.