Esten Johnsen, SHS Senior, was selected as the November Seward Rotary Club’s Youth Rotarian of the Month. He is the son of Angela and Steven Johnsen of Seward. He is an Honor Student academically, with a Grade Point Average of 4.0. His coursework is full of Advanced Placement classes and Dual Credit Classes at Concordia University, Nebraska Weslyn and Southeast Community College. He is always on the SHS Honor Roll and a leader in the SHS National Honor Society at Seward.

Esten was selected to participate in the GFWC Sophomore Pilgrimage and selected to represent SHS at the Nebraska Hugh O' Brian Youth (HOBY) Leadership Conference. He also recently attended the HOBY World Leadership Conference (WLC) in Chicago and is a current member of the Junior-Crew for HOBY Nebraska. He also has been awarded the Director of Marketing position for HOBY Nebraska and will serve on the Planning Committee for upcoming seminars. He is the youngest Director for the organization at just seventeen-years-old. He was selected to attend the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) program this summer in Maxwell Nebraska where he also achieved the "Service Above Self" Award. He was named the recipient of the Youth Salute Award when he also received the Top Youth Leader label from Seward High along with many scholarships.

Esten has enjoyed being part of the Seward High Cross Country Team all four years of his high school career and was also a member of the 2022 SHS Track program as well. He is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA).

He serves as the Seward High Student Body President and is the President of the Bluejay Leadership Team (BLT) which is SHS's Student Council. He is the Emcee at SHS P.R.I.D.E. Rallies every quarter and the SHS Pep Rallies too. Esten served as the Junior Class Representative on the Leadership Team and has been on the team all four years of high school. He is also the Student Representative on the Seward Public School's School Board.

Esten is devoted to the local SHS FFA Program and was the FFA Reporter, the Vice President, and the current Secretary of the SHS FFA. He has received the FFA Chapter Degree and the Star Greenhand Award in FFA. At the State FFA Conventions, he competed and won many honors in contests that ranged from speeches to hands-on demonstrations.

He is a member of the SHS Hope Squad and the UNK Health Science Explorers Club. He is a loyal member of the SHS SkillsUSA program and a member of the SHS Speech Team: competing in Persuasive, Duet Acting, POI, Serious Prose, and the OID Team. He serves as a member of the SHS Ambassador’s Program and was a Social Media Intern for two years. 

He was the winner of the American Legion District 12 Oratorical Contest for the last three years and each year won the “Thomas Bosmeniel” Memorial Award. He was the American Legion Area C winner in the speech contest last year and was Second Runner-Up at the State American Legion Oratorical Contest. He has been the local winner in the Seward VFW “Voice of Democracy” speech contest the last three years, was the VOD District winner last year and named First Runner-up at the State VFW VOD Speech Contest last year. He has also been involved in his local “Godparents” program for the past three years.

Esten has been employed as a Detasseling Crew member for Sloup/Thorell Crew of Seward and served as the evening assistant manager at the Seward Civic Center. He currently is employed as an Nutritional Service Aide at Memorial Health Care Systems in Seward. 

He has clocked hundreds of community service hours over the last four years as being an involved student at SHS, working the concessions, banquets, and events as scheduled by his service groups. He has often chaired many of the community service events for each of his service clubs and served as a counselor for the SMS Outdoor Education Program and the St. John Summer Horizons and VBS at St. John’s as well.

Esten plans to attend Carleton College in Minnesota and major in political science with other minors and also going to go through the Pre-Law Program, hoping to one day become a lawyer, and maybe one day, a judge. 

Esten was introduced and honored by the Seward Rotary Club and presented with a packet of Rotary Club information and mementos, and a Seward Rotary Club Banner. He is the recipient of a Rotary Book Scholarship and will be again recognized and honored in the Spring at the SHS Honors Night. Esten is a finalist for the “Youth Rotarian of the Year” which will be announced at the spring event at SHS in May.

The Seward Rotary Club honors one student each month as the Youth Rotarian of the Month and the application is available in the counselor’s office.