The SHS National Merit Scholar Finalist, Ben Nottingham, an Seward High Senior, was selected as the first to be named a Seward Youth Rotarian for 2024-2025.  He is the son of Dana and Danna Nottingham of Seward. 
 

Ben is a well-rounded young man but considers his academics a major value in his high school career.  He has a GPA of 4.09 and has been on the SHS Honor Roll all twelve terms to date.  He was only one point off of a perfect ACT score, scoring a 35 out of 36, and won the College Board National Rural and Small-Town Recognition Program Award, along with the Greater Omaha Council Bluffs Are Council on Youth Leadership Youth Salute.  He is a leader for the SHS National Honor Society and has been a member since Tenth Grade. 
 

His extracurricular activities are numerous.  He is a member of the SHS Cross Country Team and has won the most improved runner throughout the season award twice, improved his time every meet and meet the goals in running he established for himself.  He is a member of the SHS Bowling team and is also a member of the SHS Track Team in the Weights, throwing the discus and shot put.
 

Ben is one of the Captains of the SHS Award winning Quiz Bowl Team, winning the State Fair Education Division Quiz Bowl event last year, along with the Concordia History Quiz Bowl Tournament! 
 

He plays the trumpet in the SHS Band and attended the Doane University’s Honor Band, the Concordia University’s Honor Band and was selected for Central Conference Honor Band as well.  He is a member of the SHS Jazz Band and the Wind Ensemble as a featured soloist.  He also plays the Bass Guitar for the SHS Show Choir/Swing Choir performances.
 

Ben is a member of the SHS Mixed Choir, the Select Choir and the Vocal Jazz and Vocal Performance Singing Groups.  He is a choir and band section leader and was selected for the Concordia University and UNK Honor Choir programs.
 

Ben is a leader with the Seward High Chapter of Skills USA and placed second in the Related Technical Math Test, First with the SHS Skills Quiz Bowl Team and also participated int eh Technical Team Problem Solving event.  He was recently recognized as one of the Top Three Student Leaders at SHS by the Nebraska “Youth Salute!”

This summer Ben volunteered and created an online Volunteer Program for the Seward Fourth of July Celebration through “Just Serve” to help the Seward Fourth of July Celebration Committee generate more volunteers for the celebration.
 

He is a leader with the local Fellowship of Christian Athletes and served as an Education Counselor for the annual Sixth Grade Outdoor Education Program.  He is an active member of the SHS HOPE Squad, the local high school mental health awareness team.
 

Ben has been employed in the summer with the Sloup-Thorell Detasseling program, working in the fields with rouging, detasseling and eliminating volunteer plants.  He also has worked at Jimmy John’s as a sandwich creator.
 

He plans to attend Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah and is considering a major in either Engineering or Business or both!
 

His “Area of Service” revolves around the service through his church activities and leadership with the various activities involving the church, as well as his community service through the Skills USA program at SHS, the creation of the “Just Serve” program for July 4 in Seward and his work as a student tutor and mentor.
 

Ben was recognized and thanked at the Rotary Club meeting, he was presented some materials of Seward and the Seward Rotary Club and will be given an Seward Community Gift Card for $50 to be used for materials and books for college.  He is also named a finalist for the annual Seward Rotary Club’s Youth Rotarian of the Year Award and will be recognized again on Honors Night in May.
 

Seniors are invited to submit an application for the Youth Rotarian of the Month to the Counselor’s Office and one student is selected each month  of the school year for the award.

If you are interested in online payments regarding school meal purchases, please see the message below. We will continue to accept check and cash payments in the school offices as usual.  

 

School Payment Portal is being offered as a safe, secure and convenient way for parents/guardians to manage school lunch payments. You will have the opportunity to track purchases, create reminders and set up automatic payments. If you do not want to pay online and would like to continue sending in money with your student, you are still able to create a username and password to track your students’ purchases and see how much money is on the account.

 

Below is a guide to setting up your student’s account. Any questions or concerns with a student’s account should be directed to the office of your child’s school.  

 

To set up your account you can visit https://www.schoolpaymentportal.com

 

• The first time that you visit the website, you will be directed to Click the green button marked CREATE ACCOUNT. Enter your First Name, Last Name, email address and a password. Then click the Create Account button located in the lower right corner. Once you have established an account, you will need to use the Parent Login button from the main site to access your account.

 

• You will see confirmation that your account has been created successfully. Next, click the Parent Login Page button, enter your login credentials and click Sign In

 

• Once you are logged in, click the Add Student button.

 

• Enter the School’s Zip Code, 68434, in the field for zip code, then click Continue

 

• Available schools will be displayed. Click on the blue Select to the left of the School name

 

• Enter the required information for the student that you wish to add to your account, then click Continue

 

• Verify the information and click on the blue Add Student to the left of the student’s name

 

• You will be returned to the Student Access page. Follow the above steps for each student you wish to add to the account

 

To make payments to lunch accounts:

• Click the blue button marked Make Cafeteria Deposit

• Enter the Deposit Amount for each Student listed and click the Continue button.

• Follow the screen prompts to set up your payment options.

 

Lunchtime also offers a Mobile App and this information can be found on the login screen.

Click on the following link to access the newsletter.

SPS District Newsletter - Fall 2024