Grace Roberts, SHS Senior, was selected the 2022 November Youth Rotarian by the Seward Rotary Club and honored at their recent meeting on Wednesday, November 2^nd at their noon luncheon at the Seward Jones Bank Auditorium in the lower level of the Jones Bank. She is the daughter of Tara and Aaron Roberts of Seward.  She was introduced and welcomed by Seward Rotarian Anita Foors, who also presented her with a Rotary Club Banner and a sack of information on the community and Rotary International.

Grace is a scholar a member of the SHS Honor Roll all twelve times of her high school career.  She is a leader and three year member of the SHS National Honor Society and has been a loyal member of the successful SHS Quiz Bowl program and a leader in the SHS Yearbook staff.  She was selected to be an SHS Ambassador, serving as a host for guests, new students and visitors to the school.  

She loves to perform and is a member of the SHS Marching Bluejays and SHS Wind Ensemble and plays the flute.  She is also a member of the SHS Select Choir, as well as the SHS Show Choir (Swing Choir) and been in the SHS Musical every year of her high school career.  She is also a longtime member of the Summer Concordia University Summer Chamber Choir.  

Grace is a longtime member of the SHS Speech Team and qualified for state this last year.  She is a member of the SHS OID (Drama Team) in speech and also plans to present in Persuasive Speaking and Poetry this year.  She was selected a state finalist for the Optimist Speech Contest last year.  She also has participated in the SHS One Act program during her years of high school.  

She is very involved in extracurricular activities, and is a leader in the Bluejay Leadership Team (Student Council) as an officer and also a member of the School Improvement Team.  She is a loyal four year member of Key Club, Acts of Kindness Club and a member of the SHS FBLA Chapter (Future Business Leaders of America) and was involved in the SHS FCCLA Chapter for two years as well.  

In the community, Grace is a longtime member and leader of the Seward County Junior Leaders 4-H Club and an officer and Ambassador.  She is a ten year member of 4-H and President of her local 4-H Club- The Green Team 4-H Club, and served as a Day Camp Counselor for 4-H as well.  

Grace is a member of St. John Lutheran Church and participates in the St. John Lutheran Church Godparent program. Her leaders were Ben and Laurie Stellwagon until they moved and now they are Rachel and Matt Holte. She is a strong voice of youth in the congregation and a willing helper when called upon in a variety of capacities, such as the Summer Horizon’s Program, babysitting for the PTL meetings or helping at VBS.

She is employed as an assistant teacher at the William Henry School of Arts, assisting with dance and aiding special needs students with activities.  She also is employed at the Seward Child Development Center since May of 2021 and was even a “Paper Girl” and delivered the local papers to homes in the area for a long time-for many, many years.  

Grace’s volunteer service revolves around her work with the Summer Horizons program for several years, her service through the SHS Key Club and SHS FBLA Community Service projects and working as a concession volunteer for many SHS groups as well.  She also has logged many volunteer hours serving as a Seward High Ambassador. 

Grace plans to attend a college offering a strong Communications Sciences and Disorders major, as of now this may be UNL or Baylor University in Texas.  She hopes to pursue this major to find a profession in Speech-Language Pathology.  She wants to work within the school systems with younger children and those with physical or academic learning disabilities.  She hopes to return to Nebraska after college to work and raise a family near her hometown of Seward, where she wants to remain involved in her church through choirs and service.  

Grace was recognized and thanked for her work ethic and leadership in school and the community. She was presented a book scholarship and is a finalist for the Seward Rotary Youth Rotarian of the Year.  

The Seward Youth Rotarian award is open to all SHS Seniors and the forms can be obtained at the SHS Counselors office.  One youth Rotarian is selected for every month of the school year.  

There were 55 high school students that volunteered and assisted in the annual

“Bluejay Way” Community Service Day on Sunday, November 6th, 2022 throughout the

Greater Seward area. The day promoted community service at Seward High School and

coordinated opportunities for the students to add to their community service hours. The

school and community introduced a wide variety of venues to serve as opportunities for

the students to add to their list of community service hours or begin their community

service program.

Each graduate at Seward High is required to complete 30 hours of community service

as a qualification for graduation. This is a day of volunteer time that is sponsored and

coordinated twice a year-and as a result, if a student completes these two days twice a

year, half of their community service requirement is fulfilled.

There were five teachers from SHS assisting with this event. Jordan Hinrichs

coordinated the fairground volunteer opportunities. Lynette Petersen and Sara Smith

were assisting and directing at the Seward County Historical Society Museum in

Goehner with a group of fifteen students. Melissa Pohl assisted at the Olde Glory

Theater and Ashlee Rickert was the coordinator at the Seward Civic Center. Other

community members volunteered and assisted guiding the students throughout the

event in supervisory positions during the day at the various sites, including the Seward

United Methodist Church.

“It was wonderful and rewarding to see these students working “side by side” with

numerous, longtime volunteers at all of the sites,” noted SHS Educator Lynnette

Peterson. “The experience was well organized and the students could see immediately

that their work made an impact on the facility or project that they were assigned. Many

of the students also noted that they planned to return to their worksite and volunteer for

more hours, as the experience generated an interest in the activities that occurred at

that location. In fact, some had never been to the volunteer site before-and that also

proved to be very educational.”

This event has been coined, "The Bluejay Way" and it was labeled a success for our

students and community. All in all, there were 55 students, five volunteer teachers, and

extra volunteer adult and volunteer supervisors at each location, which amounted to

around 75+ volunteers working at five locations for a two hour period of time - all

generating community service as volunteers!

“For many of these students, it is their first step into community service and being a

volunteer. Our goal is to introduce them to a variety of community service opportunities

in Seward and “wet their appetite to do more,” commented coordinator SHS Educator-

Jordan Hinrichs. “Seward is a great town, known for its many wonderful volunteers and

we must continue to educate and build the next generation of volunteers for Seward,

Nebraska - instilling in these students the desire to “give back” to the community!”

The duties at each of the locations included…..

Olde Glory Theater - Outdoor maintenance of cleaning up around the building.

Fairgrounds – A deep clean of the tables and chairs of the Ag Pavilion, picked up leaves

and trash around the grandstands, picked up trash around the fairgrounds. 

Goehner-Seward County Historical Society Museum - Cleaned up the grounds around

the buildings, cleaned inside the buildings, polished the school house and cleaned and

dusted the exhibits. 

Civic Center – cleaned out basement storage room, sorted and bundled new tourism

brochures/maps, made tourism packets, sorted Christmas decorations and put together

the Christmas trees for the Festival of Trees

Methodist Church – cleaned the outdoor years and gathered the leaves/sticks and yard

debris.

Each of the locations continues to offer community service opportunities for volunteers.

Please contact them to assist with their programs. The event was coordinated by SHS

educator Jordan Hinrichs of Seward. For more information on the program contact

Hinrichs at SHS 402-643-2988 or email him at Jordan.Hinrichs@sewardschools.org.

Esten Johnsen, Seward High Sophomore, was named the winner in the American Legion –NE District 12 Oratorical Contest.  He is the son Steven and Angela Johnsen of Seward.  Esten presented a nine minute, memorized speech on the US Constitution.  His speech was “We the People!” and he was asked to speak extemporaneously on the Amendment X for three to five minutes and spoke 4:30 on the topic.

Elizabeth Sanchez of Plattsmouth, NE, an Eighth Grader, was named the Champion in the Junior Division – Middle School division of the Oratorical Competition. She was sponsored by the Plattsmouth American Legion Post- Commander Ed Jones.  She also was assigned to speak on some aspect of the US Constitution and chose to address the Tenth Amendment of the US Constitution, with a speech titled “United States of America!”  Because she was in the Junior Division, she did not have a time limit, was allowed to use a notecard, and did not have to present an extemporaneous speech on an amendment.  

The American Legion District 12 Oratorical Contest was held on Sunday, November 6, 2022 at 2:00 pm at the Seward Civic Center in Seward. William “Mac” Lawrence of Weeping, NE the District 12 Commander, welcomed the group to the American Legion Oratorical District 12 Contest and Joe Ruzicka - the Seward American Legion Post #33 Commander, the hosts for the contest, welcomed the visitors to the contest and to the Seward Civic Center and Seward. The gathering opened with the Pledge of Allegiance to the US Flag.  Ken Meyer of the Seward American Legion Post 33, served as the District 12 Oratorical Chairman and as Sargent of Arms for the speakers.

Each contestant was asked to prepare and write an eight to ten minute oration on some aspect of the US Constitution, then draw one of four US Constitution Amendments and then was asked to speak extemporaneously for three to five minutes on the selected Amendment.  The Amendments selected for the contest were Amendments VI, X, XIV-Section 1 or Amendment XVI. 

Esten was awarded a special “Thomas Bosmeniel” Memorial trophy, a gold medal and will receive a $100 cash scholarship from their District Contest, after he attends and participates in the American Legion Area C contest, which is a requirement of the scholarship award.  The Area C Contest will be held in Seward, at the Seward Civic Center on Sunday, December 6^th at 2:00 pm, again hosted by American Legion Post 33 of Seward.  Sanchez also received a Gold Medal for being the Junior Champion.

The “Thomas Bosmeniel” Memorial trophy is presented annually by his family and friends in memory of the late Thomas Bosmeniel, who died in 2018, during his freshman year at the University of Nebraska. Thomas had been the winner of the District 12 American Legion Speech Contest twice-sponsored by Post 33, won the American Legion Area C Oratorical Contest twice and was a State American Legion Finalist twice. He had loved the American Legion Oratorical Contest and the values of its program and was also a proud alum of the American Legion Boys State program.

Judges for the 2022 event were educators-Cliff Lowell and Zane Francescato, both of Seward.  Riley Nuttleman served as the timer for the contest. William Lawrence served as the Tally Master.  Refreshments followed the contest. Clark Kolterman –Seward, served as the program emcee.  

Esten will represent the District 12 at the American Legion Oratorical Area contest on December 6th at the Seward Civic Center in Seward at 2:00 pm in the East Basement Room and compete against three other District winners for the opportunity to represent the area at the Nebraska State American Legion Oratorical State Contest in January.  

Photo L-R Speech Judge Zane Francescato-Seward, Post 33 Commander-Joe Ruzicka of Seward, District 12 Oratorical Chair-Ken Meyer-Seward, District 12 Commander William Mac Lawrence of Weeping Water, Ne, SHS Sophomore and Grand Champion-American Legion District 12 Oratorical Contest -Esten Johnsen-Seward, American Legion District 12 Champion of the Junior Division-Elizabeth Sanchez of Plattsmouth, Ed Jones-Commander of Plattsmouth American Legion Post, Timer- Riley Nuttleman, Speech Judge Cliff Lowell.  

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2022-2023 SPS Reopening Plan

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2022 Fall District Newsletter