Tomazevicz Addresses SHS for Plum Creek Lit Festival
Launch the media gallery 1 player“Have No Fear!’ was the theme of the message of Olympian Gold Medalist, Curt Tomasevicz, formerly of Shelby, Nebraska and now a professor at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. He addressed the student body, faculty and staff at Seward High and shared his experience of becoming and achieving the Gold Medal in the Olympics in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada in the Bobsledding team competition. Tomasevicz is a graduate of UNL with a Bachelor and Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and a minor is astrophysics and currently teaches at UNL.
He addressed the group on the importance of understanding your fears and to face them, citing personal examples and examples of others that have achieved success by overcoming their fears.
Prior to the presentation, awards were presented by Judi Harper, Education Director at the Nebraska State Fair, recognizing and honoring the six first place recipients from Seward High who competed in the educational competitions at the State Fair. Honored were Austin Van Velson-First in Science, Jake Marshall-First in Social Studies, Delainy Baker-First in Penmanship, Stacey Damanhoury-First in Cup Stacking, Siana Dyell-First in Computer Graphics, Ben Galusha-First in Essay and the SHS Quiz Bowl team-Evan Mettenbrink, Alexa Bruick, Will Helmer, Austin Van Velson, Ben Galusha and Clara Heinicke-First in Quiz Bowl.
Austin Van Velson was named first runner-up at the State Fair Individual Sweepstakes Contest, losing to the first place winner by one point. The award was based on number of competitions entered and rankings in those contests.
Seward High was also recognized for their success overall, and was named the first place winner in the Grand Sweepstakes completion for High Schools in Nebraska. They defeated Lincoln East, who was the runner up and York placed third overall. Coordinating teachers for the State Fair entries were Pan Franck and Clark Kolterman. They were sponsored by the School District of Seward High Ability Learner Program.