The Seward Rotary Club honored Bryson Janousek as the November Youth Rotarian of the Month at the recent Seward Rotary Club meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at noon at the Jones Bank and Trust Company’s auditorium during their business meeting.  Rotarian Matt Dominy-project co-chair introduced SHS Senior Bryson Janousek, the son of Tim and Jennifer Janousek.  He was introduce and Dr. Dominy presented Bryson’s resume and the reasons he was being honored.  He was presented with some information on Rotary, a Rotary banner and a Rotary Club Book Scholarship.   

Bryson is a scholar athlete and very involved at Seward High school.  He has a 3.7 GPA and usually a member of the SHS Honor Roll.  He was also recognized as an Honor Athlete-and named an Academic All- Conference by the Lincoln Journal Star in 2017 in the area of Basketball.  

Bryson was a recipient of the SHS Bluejay P.R.I.D.E. Award recently in the area of dedication at school.

He is extremely dedicated to his “sports”-playing for all four years of his high school career and leading the SHS Basketball team and earning a team letter.  He is also a four year member of the SHS Baseball program and a team leader and letterman in that sport as well.  

Bryson is a four year member and leader of the SHS Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) organization, as well as a member of the SHS FFA and Fellowship of Christian Athletes in Seward.  He participated in the local VFW “Voice of Democracy Speech Contest,” as well as the various Nebraska State Fair Education programs in writing.  

He is a member of the Rock Lutheran Church in Seward and often a voice of their youth membership. Bryson is also part of and involved with the Rock Lutheran Church Godparent program in Seward.

Bryson has been employed with Syngenta Global-pollinating and becoming assistant crew leader and most recently has been employed with Team Elite-in the area of rouging and detasseling corn during the summer months.  During the school year he assists with the youth program at the Seward Recreation Department – especially with flag football and basketball programs. 

His area of “Service Above Self” he has generated hundreds of volunteer hours of community service. Bryson currently serves as one of the SHS High School Social Media Interns, and has worked with a variety of summer youth sport camps at SHS.  He is a longtime volunteer for the Seward Youth Basketball tourney and was selected one of 14 boys from the Junior/Senior class to be an SMS Outdoor Education counselor for three days-all as a volunteer!

He volunteered for a recent family mission trip to Guatemala with his pastors from Hillcrest Evangelical Free Church to serve in the area of building and faith sharing family activities in Amatitlan, Guatemala.  He also volunteered many hours through his service organizations of FBLA and FFA-often in volunteer leadership positions and was involved in their community service programs and projects.

After high school, Bryson is still undecided where to attend college but hopes to play for a college basketball team during his post high school career and plans to major in some aspect of Marketing, possibly a major in Social Media Marketing with his dream job of being the Social Media Director for a major sports team

Bryson is now a finalist for the “Service Above Self” Seward Rotary Club scholarship to be announced in May and he will be honored and recognized again as a Youth Rotarian Scholarship finalist at the annual spring Senior Honors Night, when the scholarships are announced. 

The Seward Youth Rotarian program is open to all Seward High Seniors, and selection is based on scholarship, leadership, character and “Service Above Self!”  Applications can be obtained from the SHS Counselor’s office, and only need to be completed once.  One award is presented monthly and announced at the local, Seward Rotary Club meeting.

Seth Van Engelenhoven, Seward High Senior, was selected the winner at the Nebraska American Legion District 12 Oratorical Contest held recently on Sunday, November 04, 2018 at 2:00 pm at the Nebraska National Guard Museum in Seward. He was selected to represent District 12 at the Regional Contest also to be held in Seward on December 1, 2018 at 7:00 pm at the Seward Civic Center.  Bonnie Brewer of Elmwood, Nebraska, the District 12 Commander, welcomed the group on behalf of the District and Ken Meyer, of the Seward American Legion Post #33, the host for the contest, welcomed the visitors to the contest and the new Nebraska National Guard Museum. He offered to give tours of the museum following the contest to anyone interested.  Meyer led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance to the US Flag.

Seth was asked to prepare and write a prepared, eight to ten minute oration on some aspect of the US Constitution and then draw one of four US Constitution Amendments and then to speak extemporaneously for three to five minutes on the selected Amendment.  The Amendments selected for the contest were Amendments 1, 4, 13 and 21.  He drew Amendment 1 for the extemporaneous speech on the Freedoms-- “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for redress of grievances.”  

Judges for the event were Dr. Louis Reith, Bonnie Kruse, and Greg Holloway. Jon Kruse served as the timer for the contest and Dick Hans served as the Sargent of Arms and host for the contestants.  Mrs. Kelley Limback of Seward High, is Seth’s Speech teacher and was introduced by Seth and thanked publicly.  Jerry Meyer, Director of the Nebraska National Guard Museum coordinated the arrangements, assisted by Clark Kolterman, President of the Seward Arts Council.

Bonnie Brewer, District 12 Commander presented Seth with the District 12 Oratorical Gold medal and a $100 cash scholarship from the Nebraska American Legion District 12.  He will now represent District 12 at their Regional contest held in Seward at the Seward Civic Center at 7:00 pm and again be asked to present a ten minute oration on some aspect of the US Constitution and one of the same four Amendments to be drawn that evening.  There are five Districts competing at the Regional Level.  The winner from the Regional level will advance to the State Contest in January.  Seth is officially sponsored by the Seward American Legion Post #33.

Seward High Seniors, Jax Johnson and Cayden Glandt both enlisted in the US Army National Guard their junior year of high school and attended basic training the summer of 2018.  They were the featured program at the October 3, 2018 Seward Rotary Club meeting held at the Jones National Bank and Trust Company Auditorium at their noon hour meeting. A lunch, fellowship and short business meeting preceded the program.  Jax is the son of Brady and Jill Johnson, and Cayden is the son of Kip and Stephanie Glandt – all of Seward. Sergeant First Class Roberto Vega, of the Nebraska National Guard was also a guest.  He was one of the recruiters for the Nebraska National Guard who assisted and guided the students in the application process

Rotarians Jill Johnson and Matt Dominy are responsible for the six programs in October.  Jill Johnson introduced Seward High Seniors who shared a presentation based on their ten-week experience at basic training. Many photos were acquired through their specific military unit’s Facebook pages provided by the US Army.  

 Jax Johnson attended Fort Jackson in South Carolina, and Cayden Glandt attended Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri.  They presented a on the week by week timeline of their basic training experience, beginning with the application process and the first day happenings, even including their haircut styling experience!

Their programming at basic training was divided into three phases: Red Phase, White Phase, and Blue Phase for their training process.  Comments on their presentation included working with their Drill Sergeants, whom they both admired, shooting exercises, obstacle courses, ten-mile hikes, stories on their various learning experiences, and finally the joys of Family Day and Graduation Day!  In Johnson’s program 240 of the 260 applicants finished the program, and in Cayden’s program 154 of the 160 finished the program and completed their basic training experience.

Both young men will continue to serve one weekend per month until they go to Ft. Leonard Wood this summer for 11 weeks of Advanced Individual Training (AIT) and on-the-job instruction. Part of this time will be spent in the classroom and in the field. Jax Johnson will train as a Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) specialist primarily responsible for defending the country against the threat of CBRN weapons and Weapons of Mass Destruction.  Cayden will train to become part of 31 Bravo Military Police andprotect the lives and property on Army installations by enforcing military laws and regulations. 

During the program Rotary members asked about the medals on their dress uniforms:  Cayden received the Marksmanship Medal, and Jax was presented the Expert Marksmanship Medal for their accuracy with their firearms. Both soldiers received their first promotion while at their prospective basic training camps. Only about 10% of the trainees receive this honor during the first ten weeks of their training. 

Both soldiers commented on the educational benefits of joining the US Army National Guard, such as the GI Bill, and look forward to their post high school education.  Glandt’s future plans include attending the University of Nebraska in Lincoln in the area of either broadcasting or agriculture, and possibly trying to “walk on” the UNL Cornhusker football team as a kicker.  Johnson also plans to attend the University of Nebraska in Lincoln in the area of study in business or engineering.  Both students will be in the Nebraska National Guard for at least six years-giving one weekend a month and two weeks during the summer.

Questions and answers followed their presentation to the Seward Rotary. The meeting concluded with Seward Rotary President, Todd LaVelle, thanking both students for their dedication and service and wishing both continued success in school and with their US Army National Guard careers.

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