GFWC Nebraska Federation of Women’s Club’s hosted the State History Quiz Bowl in Seward at the newly remodeled Seward Civic Center on Wednesday, October 7t in an all-day Quiz Bowl event featuring questions based only on History and Geography. The Quiz Bowl hosted 54 teams of high school students from across Nebraska. This was a special “USA-250” American History Quiz Bowl for High Schools in Nebraska- with all of the questions based on American History.
The event featured a “Round Robin” feature in the morning, where each team played three rounds in a warm-up for the afternoon’s single elimination tourney. The event was divided into three levels-Large, Medium and Small Schools. The teams competed in 15-minute rounds, generating points and wins to achieve the top seed bracket for the afternoon tournament.
SHS had two teams in the tourney and the TEAM B was First Runner-up in the state event, sponsored by the GFWC Nebraska Federation of Women’s Clubs, Inc. The students involved from SHS included… Zeke Ferebee, Naomi Jurchen, Darien Sugden, James Weverka, Thomas Funke, Bethany Jurchen, Declan Brown, Izayah Lavicky, DeeRoy Jamison, Mason Vest-with coach Melissa Pohl serving at their sponsor for the day.
The members of the winning First Runner-up team included Zeke Ferebee, Naomi Jurchen, Darien Sugden, James Weverka, Thomas Funke.
Winners of the History Quiz Bowl included...:
Results-
Small Schools: 1st Humphrey-Coach Mitzi Luedtke, 2nd Hampton A -Coach Gary Richards, 3rd Fullerton B -Coach Laura Sabata (also a reader), 4th Dorchester B-Coach Sandy Severance.
Medium Schools: 1st Central City -Coach Brandon Wright (also a reader), 2nd Kearney Catholic B-Coach Polla Renken, 3rd Exeter Milligan Friend A -Coach Jordan Marr, 4th Kearney Catholic A-Polla Renken.
Large Schools: 1st Elkhorn North A-Coach Melissa Peterson, 2nd Seward High B-Coach Melissa Pohl (also a reader). 3rd Elkhorn South A-Coach Sarah Baker, 4th Gretna East A-Coach Dawn Nizzi.
Schools participating included (with most bringing the limit of two teams-Team A and Team B: Humphrey, Dorchester, Osceola, Fullerton, Heartland, Hampton, Howells Dodge, Kearney Catholic, Columbus Scotus, Raymond Central, Centennial, Fullmore Central, Milford, Wilber Clatonia, Exeter Milligan Friend, West Point Beemer, Central City, David City, Cross County, Elkhorn North, Crete, Platteview, Gretna, Gretna East, Seward, Elkhorn High, Millard South, York, Elkhorn South
The winning school received a Championship Trophy, and each team member also was presented with a ribbon and medal by their coaches and a commemorative “USA-250” medal from the Nebraska National Guard Museum – “USA-250” Committee. The First Runner-up team also received a winner’s trophy-with the trophies and medals sponsored and donated by the GFWC NFWC. They were presented by GFWC NFWC representatives Diane Uher of Clarkson and Bernie Baumert of Howells and Riley Nutttleman, the local Tournament Quiz Master and member of the Seward Fourth of July Celebration Committee/ ”USA-250” Celebration group.
The volunteer readers/judges for the History Quiz Bowl were Sue Imig, Andy Jensen, Nancy Schulz, and Clark Kolterman -all from Seward, Kathy Wilcox from Crete, Melissa Pohl and Kathy Castleberry of Utica, Ellie Janda from Beaver Crossing, Brandon Wright of Central City, Kathy Huggins of Papillion, Rich Arch from Platteview and Laura Sabata from Fullerton. There were nine competition rooms at one time all day long!
The GFWC Seward Woman’s Club hosted the pizza luncheon for the coaches and judges during the event-chaired by Ellen Chaffin. Riley Nuttleman of Seward was the Quiz Master for the event, with Clark Kolterman of Seward serving as the coordinator. Diane Uher of GFWC Clarkson Woman’s Club is the GFWC NFWC Quiz Bowl State Chair for 2026-2028, and she hosted the front-line registration table along with GFWC NFWC Co Chair -Bernie Baumert of the GFWC Howells Woman’s Club. Erin Wiseman of the Seward Civic Center, served as the local contact for the host facility at the event.
It should be noted that many of the teams in this tourney were sponsored by their local GFWC NFWC Woman’s Club-who paid the entry fee for their school’s Quiz Bowl team for this GFWC NFWC tourney as a community service and youth program/project. Any extra profits generated from this History Quiz Bowl will be used for the GFWC NFWC projects!
For more information on the various Quiz Bowl events, contact Diane Uher in Clarkson-the GFWC NFWC Quiz Bowl Chair at dluher72@gmail.com or call 402-649-5505 or call Riley Nuttleman at 402-641-6797 or email riley.nuttleman@gmail.com.