Seward High was named the recipient of the annual State Fair Education Division’s Top Award-The Sweepstake Championship Award Trophy for their student’s outstanding participation and success at the recent education competitions at the Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island-named Champion High School in the Education Division of the Nebraska State Fair!  The students from SHS competed in a variety of performance and static contests, with students competing in education contests on August 25 and 26 at the State Fair. The contest was sponsored by the Nebraska State Fair, their Education Division and the NEBRASKAland Foundation. Over 5000+ entries created a record number of entries for the Education Division of the Nebraska State Fair.

Ryan Wall was named the recipient of the Brad Forsberg Award, named top overall best presenter at the 2018 Education Division Performance Contests.  

The Seward High “Jays” Quiz Bowl team was named the first runner-up in the recent State Fair Quiz Bowl contest at the State Fair in Grand Island on Sunday, August 26, 2018 with teams from across Nebraska-featuring general knowledge questions.  The strong SHS Quiz Bowl Team members included Ryan Wall-Captain, Thomas Bosmeniel and Jarod Harris.  

Winning the first place trophies in the State Fair Education Division were Thomas Bosmeniel in Monologue, Ryan Wall in Science, Ryan Wall in Social Studies, Makayla Oglevie in Short Story, Abby Van Velson in Essay 9-10, Thomas Bosmeniel in Poetry Presentation, Payton Davis Schmidt in Essay 11-12, Anna Sommerer in Poetry 9-10, Amara Mueri in Poetry 11-12, Madalyn Lobmeyer in Cipher Down-First Place, and both the individual community service project "The Red Sand" Project by Tatum Criner and the SHS FCCLA Project "Helping the Homeless" -Tee Shirt Collection by Hannah Kolterman-Wagner and Miriam Voehl won First in the Group Community Service Award!  Tri-folds and notebooks are on display at the State Fair!  Stacey Damanhoury First in Cup Stacking!  (Note: This is the fifth year in a row that Stacey has won the Cup Stacking Contest!).  The winning First Place team in Improvisation was Ryan Wall, Rory Nolan, Ross Brown, Thomas Bosmeniel and Madalyn Lobmeyer.  First place winners each won $100 scholarship to the college of their choice, a plaque, and rosette for each event.  All participating contestants were given a free pass to the fair and a tee shirt.

Seward High had three Quiz Bowl teams in the annual State Fair Quiz Bowl high school quiz bowl contests. Each team competed in a round-robin contest to determine placement in the annual single elimination quiz bowl contest –asking teams general knowledge questions. SHS Team A was composed of Ryan Wall, Thomas Bosmeniel and Jarod Harris and they placed second overall. Other SHS Quiz Bowl teams included Team 2-Rory Nolan, Marson Larson and Ross Brown, Team 3-Isaiah Van Beek, Braden Adams, Andrew Alley and Ashton Conner.  The SHS Freshman team was Maddie Viger, Jack Wall and Blake Anderson.

SHS students winning in the Monologue contest were Thomas Bosmeniel -First, Bailey Mooney-Second. 

In the Impromptu speaking contest, Ryan Wall won second place, Thomas Bosmeniel was third, Bailey Mooney was fourth, and Jarod Harris was fifth.  The SHS Improv team members included Ross Brown, Rory , Madalyn Lobmeyer, Ryan Wall and Thomas Bosmeniel –placing First over all!  

Madalyn Lobmeyer was named second place in the Informative Speech contest.

In Cup Stackling in the High School Division, Stacey Damanhoury was First Place, with Landon Nelson fifth and Ryan Wall sixth place.

In “Poetry Out Loud” competition, Thomas Bosmeniel placed first, Madalyn Lobmeyer placed second, Ryan Wall placed third, Kylie Edgington placed sixth, Bailey Mooney place seventh and Alex Sick placed eighth.  

In the math contest, Math 9-10 winners included Isaiah Van Beek -sixth, Jarod Harris-Seventh, Ashton Conner-eighth, Andrew Alley-ninth and Braden Adams tenth, while in Math Grades 11-12, the winners included Ryan Wall-second place, Thomas Bosmeniel-fourth and Gracie Sullivan-fifth!

In the Science tests Grades 9-10, placing sixth was Jarod Harris, and Alexa Hieser tied for seventh, and in Science tests Grade 11-12, Ryan Wall placed first place over all, with Jarod Harris fourth and Thomas Bosmeniel-firth place.

In the Spelling tests Grades 9-12, winners included Thomas Bosmeniel-second, Gracie Sullivan-HM and Ryan Wall-HM.

In Social Studies tests winners included Ryan Wall-First Place and Thomas Bosmeniel-second place for grades 11-12, while in Grades 9-10 in Social Studies, the SHS winners were Andrew Alley-sixth and Jarod Harris-HM.

In Grammar tests for Grades 9-12, the winners from SHS were Ryan Wall-second, Jarod Harris-fourth and Thomas Bosmeniel-fifth.

In the High School Individual Community Service Individual contest Tatum Criner place first over all in the individual division with her “Red Sand” FCCLA Star project and in the Group Division of Community Service, Hannah Kolterman and Miriam Voehl’s FCCLA Star Project “Helping the Homeless-Tee Shirt Drive” won First Place. 

In the Essay Contest Grades 9-10 from SHS included, Abby Van Velson-First Place, Jacob Jurchen-Second, Josie Oxford-third, Hannah Bales-fourth, Avery Lewis-fifth, Wade Slepicka-sixth, Anna Sommerer-seventh, Macy Gebhardt-eighth, Elhan Ideus-ninth, Camryn Jensen-tenth, and Honorable Mentions to Zac Clark, Larissa Embree, Amber Gadeken, Dylan Hiser, Clare Karel, Delany Read, Audrey Reinert, Bria Schulz and Aryssa Two Crow.

Essay winners in Grades 11-12 awarded to Peyton Davis Schmidt won first place overall, Amara Mueri-second, Lincoln Haase-third, Daniel Collins-fourth, John Mark Myers-fifth, Matthew Arndt-sixth, Kiona Coe-seventh, Goi Duol-eighth, Natasha Block-ninth, and Jordan Oborny-tenth. 

In penmanship competition for Grades 9-10, Alexis Hiser won third, Abbey Bimler was fourth, Audrey Todd-fifth, Hannah Bales-sixth, Amber Gadeken-seventh, and HM to Gillian Mettenbrink, Avery Lewis and Aryssa Two Crow, Kenna Piskorski, Tatum Criner, Camryn Jensen, Jordan Nitsche, and Macy Gebhardt.

Grades 11-12 Penmanship winners from SHS included Katryna Ruykas-second, Teanna Hurley-third, Virginia Glaser-fourth, Amara Mueri-fifth, Peyton Davis Schmit-sixth, Carissa Hackbart-seventh, Theresia Stewart-eighth, Mason Mahalek-ninth, Bailee Nelson-tenth, with HM to Taylor Brodecky.

In the written poetry contest on Nebraska Winters, in grades 9-10, the winners were Anna Sommerer-First, and Makenna Gross-second, Alexis Hiser-third, Samantha Oborny-fifth, Abbey Bimler-sixth, Abby Baack-seventh, Maddie Woolard-eighth, Larissa Embree-tenth, and HM to Hannah Bales, Tatum Criner, Macy Gebhart, Jarod Harris, Ethan Ideus, Camry Jensen, Cassandra Kottich, Madalyn Lobmeyer, Emily O’Kief, Matthew Sherman, and Brianna Shook.

Top awards for written poetry in Grades 11-12 to Amara Mueri –First Place and Bailee Nielsen-2^ndPlace, with Katryna Ruka placing third, Teanna Hurley–fourth, Thomas Bosmeniel-fifth, Kaden Saum-sixth, Peyton Davis Schmit-seventh, Virginia Glaser-eighth, Riley Nuttleman-ninth, Taylor Brodecky-tenth, and HM to Stacey Damanhoury,

In the Short Story Contest, Makayla Oglevie was named first place with her short story, Kenna Gottschalk was second, Theresia Stewart-third, Jacob Auman-fourth, Audrey Sorensen-fifth, Tyson Reisdorff-sixth, Mason Mahalek-seventh, Dace Klimm-eighth, KayLea Rolfsmeyer-ninth, Natasha Block-tenth and Honorable Mention to Sergio Price!

In a special contest at the end of the day, a “Cipher Down” math contest named Pam Franck was named one of the winners, along with Madalyn Lobmeyer!  Other participants included Jarod Harris, Kevin Fields, Ryan Wall and Kyle Hinkel. 

Dozens of students from SHS participated in the numerous education division competitions each day, for a total of 50+ during the two day event on Saturday, August 25 and Sunday, August 26, 2018 in Grand Island.  Students from Seward High won many awards and recognitions.  The State Fair entries from Seward High are sponsored through the High Ability Learner Program (HAL) in the Seward School District and supervised by SHS Teachers Melissa Pohl, Pam Franck and Kyle Hinkel.

The September Youth Rotarian of the Month from SHS is Kayla Luebbe, SHS Senior-the daughter of Ryan and Sarah Luebbe of Bee, Nebraska.  She was honored on Wednesday, September 5, 2018 at the weekly noon luncheon meeting of the Seward Rotary Club held at the Jones National Bank and Trust Company Auditorium.  Rotarian Matt Dominy, a member of the Youth Rotarian of the Month Committee, introduced Kayla and presented her qualifications and background that assisted the committee’s selection of her for the award.

Kayla is one of the athlete/academic leaders at Seward High.  She is involved with the High Ability Learner (HAL) program, and has a cumulative GPA of 4.04 with ACT score of 30 and the on the SHS Honor Roll all 12 semesters of her high school career and a leader with the SHS National Honor Society.  

She has been nominated for many P.R.I.D.E. awards by numerous faculty members for her Preparation, Respect, Integrity, Dedication and Efforts and she is a member of the Academic All State program by the NSAA.

Kayla loves sports and is a leader in our women’s athletic program.  She has lettered on the Varsity Basketball team for three years and participated in the last two State Basketball Tourney’s and named Honorable Mention All-Conference, and Honorable Mention All-State in 2018 in basketball. She participated in the Nebraska Lasers Club basketball team, traveling to many different states for tournaments during the summer months.  She has one Varsity Letter in volleyball and participated in the State Volleyball tourney as well.

Kayla is involved in a host of service groups at SHS, serving as an officer (Reporter) of the SHS FFA, and won many purple ribbons on the FFA Livestock Judging team, participated in the FFA Poultry Evaluation CDE at the Nebraska State FFA Conference and was a volunteer for the FFA Literacy Festival the last two years, assisting in educating the children from area schools on agriculture in Nebraska.  

She is an involved as an active member of the SHS Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA} and involved in all of their community service endeavors.  

She participated in the local VFW Voice of Democracy Speech contest and various contests for the Nebraska State Fair Education Division contests in poetry, essay and penmanship and she was the State Champion and recognized with the First Place Award with her essay honoring “Standing Bear,” sponsored by the Nebraska Indian Commission- and presented her essay in front of hundreds at the Standing Bear Breakfast. She also serves as an SHS Student Ambassador, assisting the SHS Staff and serving as a host and tour guide.

She is a long time member of 4-H, holding many, involved in many aspects of service through her club-The Circle G 4-H Club of Garland and has won numerous Blue, Purple and Championship honors and participated in many of the Seward County Fairs  and Nebraska State Fairs during her 4-H career.  

She is a member of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Staplehurst /Marysville and active volunteer for her the church and member and leader of their youth program, serving as one of the voices of youth for her church.  She is a proud graduate of the Staplehurst Our Redeemer Lutheran Grade School and was a leader in their academic and athletic programs.  She babysits for the church and involved in their annual Vacation Bible School program.  

Kayla annually assists with the Staplehurst Clean-Up Day each year.  She attended the Lutheran Church National Youth Gathering in New Orleans, and participated in neighborhood clean-ups during her conference. She also assisted in the ORLC Clean-up and volunteered for the concessions booth as well.

Kayla is employed at Lou and Mary Ann’s Place in Bee, Nebraska, working as a dishwasher, and working in a variety of duties, as called upon during her shifts.  She also works as a babysitter for many children in the area both in the summer and during the school year, when she has time. She works concessions for the FFA, Skills USA and her Senior Class.  

Her “Service Above Self” volunteer and service activities centers around her serving as a longtime mentor for the many youth athletic camps for volleyball and basketball during the summer months.  She has also been an active participant in the various service projects of the FFA and Skills USA, such as the annual community food drives, blood mobiles and fundraisers for specific causes.  

Kayla has not decided where she will attend college but has considered a possible major field of study in accounting and knows wherever she goes to college, she would like to try and play on their women’s basketball team.

Kayla was presented with mementos from the Seward Rotary Club and a $50 book scholarship.  She also is a finalist for the annual Youth Rotarian of the Year award and scholarship to be announced in May at the annual SHS Honors Night.  

The Seward Rotary Club presents one Youth Rotarian Award to an SHS Senior each month from August to May, based on scholarship, leadership and citizenship, with an emphasis on “Service Above Self!”  Students only need to apply once during the school year and applications can be obtained on line from Seward Rotarian Jill Johnson, Assistant Principal  at SHS.  

The Seward Rotary Club welcomed the new Seward High School International Students from Germany and Italy. The students are Silvie Opolka from Hanover, Germany and Matilde Ferrari from Milan, Italy. The girls were introduced to the membership of Rotary by SHS Vice-Principal and Rotary member Jill Johnson and welcomed to Seward by Rotarian Clark Kolterman.  The students are both living with the Steve and Beth Hass family in Seward and will be here through the school year.

Silvie Opolka from Hanover, Germany is 16 years old and involved in the local SHS 

cross country program. Matilde Ferrari from Milan, Italy is 17 years old and participating in the SHS volleyball program. The girls are also both involved in regular class schedules at SHS as well.

The Seward Rotary Club welcomed the high school students, and presented them with some Rotary Club mementos as well as American flags, special Seward and Nebraska pins, some Seward popcorn and information on Seward and Seward Rotary.

Both of the students volunteered to return in May and report on their year in Seward, and give a presentation on their home and the impact of their program experience in Seward.   

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SPS District News