Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 40
While a few tears flowed Saturday, most of the members of the Summerland Public School class of 2024 beamed during commencement exercises held in the main gym. The Summerland band played the processional. Adyson Mlnarik and Superintendent Kyle Finke welcomed faculty, family and guests. Pastor Mark Hoffman urged the class to live their best lives before leading the assembly in prayer. A packed house watched 19 students receive diplomas and listened to words of wisdom from co-valedictorians...
Scholarship Recipients CHRISTIAN BEHNK UNL Husker Power Scholarship UNL O & G Kammerer Scholarship Paul D. Cooper Scholarship KELTON BRUHN Northeast Community College Livestock Judging Scholarship ALANNA DOLL Creighton University Award Scholarship Menard Family Business Scholarship Father John Labaj Scholarship The John Greer Memorial Scholarship Timothy J. Thramer Memorial Scholarship AISLYNN KESTER NECC Scholastic Contest Waiver Clearwater Chamber of Commerce Scholarship Scott L. Reynolds...
Summerland Advocate-Messenger personnel brought home 23 awards from the 2023 Better Newspaper Contest for the Nebraska Press Association. Awards were presented Saturday evening, at the awards banquet held at the Cornhusker Marriot Hotel in Lincoln. SAM finished second in Class A, which includes weekly newspapers with a circulation up to 699 subscriptions. The Stanton Register won the division. In advertising categories, publisher LuAnn Schindler won seven awards. An ad featuring financial services at Brunswick State Bank, promoting FFA Week,...
PROCEEDINGS SUMMERLAND PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD OF EDUCATION April 15, 2024 Summerland Public School Board of Education met in regular session, Monday, April 15, 2024, at 7 p.m. President Steve Thiele called the meeting, which was advertised in the April 10 newspapers,to order at 7 p.m. Thiele noted the Open Meetings Act posted in the board room. Attendance was taken. All board members were present: Ed Nordby, Nate Schwager, Scott Thiele, Steve Thiele, Austin Twibell, Jeremy Wagner. Motion by Twibell, seconded by Schwager, to approve the agenda as...
This month, three career and technical education organizations at Summerland Public Schools have attended state conventions, giving students an opportunity to show knowledge gained in the classroom and compete in a variet of events. FFA The Summerland FFA Chapter attended its state convention, in Lincoln, April 3 to 5. Two students received gold medals, including Jenna Funk in cooperative speaking and Braelyn Bergman, discovery speaking. Two groups received silver awards. The Conduct of Chapter...
Dear editor: I would like to express my support for our teachers and coaches/sponsors at Summerland Public Schools. I want you to know, as a parent, I have the utmost confidence in your abilities to continue to teach our children. My trust is in your hands to continue with your jobs. Even though things at the top seem to be in disarray, I need you to PLEASE hang in there! Have confidence in your own abilities to continue doing what you are doing ... providing our kids with a great education....
What a great time to be a Bobcat! Our students are shining in all activities. Backtrack to November when the volleyball team qualified for state competition and the football team played in two rounds of the playoff system. Nothing like starting the year off on the right foot. The marching band did well at competition in Wayne. Speech and drama students continue to earn awards. Next week, the speechsters compete in a tough C2 district, a trip to the state meet on the line. I have a feeling...
Medalists • Ten Summerland SkillsUSA students participated in middle school competition, March 1, in Grand Island. (top) Taelyn Nilson won job skills demo "A" category, while (below) Zander Tabbert placed second in mouse trap cars. Also competing were Jaelyn Shaver, Jorden Cox, Liam Gallagher, Asher Whiting, Luke Kester, Kanyon Allemang, Cadi Soper and Jack Heim....
Since we're writers, we, at SAM love lists. Trust us, we keep and use them every single day. But, how does one determine which articles should be at the top of the yearly list? In the past, we've based it by reader count from our website. This year, we're still relying on reader count, featuring the top-read article by month. We wrote nearly 2,000 articles in 2023 and, while some of our favorites don't appear on the list, we're sure these are a newsworthy representation of the Summerland region....
SUBMITTED ARTICLE The 2022- 2023 SkillsUSA season has officially come to an end. Summerland’s chapter president, Faith King, stated that the national qualifiers finished the year strong, upon their return from the National Skills and Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, at the end of June. Although it was previously announced that recent Summerland graduate, Faith King, would qualify for a spot among the top 10 in the nation, her exact placings were not known until this past week. In the prelim rounds, King earned fifth place among all c...
A 2023 Summerland graduate ended her high school SkillsUSA career with a finish in the top 10 at the 2023 SkillsUSA National Leadership Conference in Atlanta, June 19 - 23. Faith King competed in Job Skills Demonstration A, where a contestant explains an entry-level technical skill used in an occupational area. She demonstrated how to perform the Heimlich maneuver on an infant. "Although nationals did not turn out the way that I would have hoped, I had the time of my life, celebrating my last...
The Summerland Public Schools Board of Education discussed lawn care, board policy and tech upgrades at its June 13 meeting. During public participation, the board learned more details about the pep rally honoring the Summerland SkillsUSA national qualifiers, sponsored by the “Summerland Advocate-Messenger.” Superintendent Kyle Finke outlined mower equipment available from Lazy T, with board members receiving information on lawn mowers in a range of prices. AKRS has also been contacted to give m...
The "Advocate-Messenger" hosted a pep rally and open house for the National SkillsUSA qualifiers, Friday, at The Office. National qualifers - Faith King, Julie Olivan, Sierra Thomson, Cassie Livingston and Jaelyn Shaver - were recognized by SAM Publisher LuAnn Schindler. Following introductions, participants gave a brief overview and/or demonstration of the event in which they will participate. King will compete in Job Skills Demonstration A; Olivan, Prepared Speech; and Thomson, Livingston and...
Join the Summerland Advocate-Messenger for a pep rally and open house honoring the Summerland SkillsUSA national qualifers. Friday June 16th at 1:30 p.m. In the Advocate-Messenger "back parking lot" at 522 Main st. Clearwater. Join us for refreshments in The Office after the pep rally....
It's official. Three Summerland SkillsUSA students, who finished second in state competition in the middle school team engineering challenge, will travel to Atlanta, Georgia, to vie for a national award. Cassie Livingston, Jaelyn Shaver and Sierra Thomson will join Faith King and Julie Olivan at the 2023 SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference, June 19 to 23, in Atlanta. Advisor Michael Odell made the official announcement Friday. The group will travel with other Nebraska SkillsUSA...
PROCEEDINGS SUMMERLAND PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD OF EDUCATION April 17, 2023 Summerland Public School Board of Education held a regular meeting, Monday, April 17, 2023. President Steve Thiele called the meeting, which was advertised in the April 12, 2023, newspapers to order at 5:30 p.m. Thiele noted the Open Meetings Act posted in the board room. Board members present: Ed Nordby, Schwager, Thiele, Austin Twibell, Jeremy Wagner. Scott Thiele was absent. He joined the meeting at 5:32 p.m. Motion by Nordby, seconded by Schwager, to approve the agenda...
Faith King is no stranger to the award stage at Fonner Park in Grand Island. The Summerland SkillsUSA Chapter president landed there again Saturday, for the fourth time, when she was named winner in job skills demonstration A at the 2023 Nebraska SkillsUSA Convention. King, along with Carlee Livingston and Julie Olivan, struck gold in their respective categories. They will represent Nebraska, June 19 to 23, at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference, in Atlanta, Georgia....
Faith King, of Clearwater, has been awarded a Career Scholars Program Scholarship valued at $24,000 to continue her education at Wayne State College. King will be a graduate of Summerland High School in 2023. She is the daughter of Brian and Chantel King. King is involved in multiple extracurricular activities at Summerland School, including SkillsUSA, one-act play production, speech, Future Business Leaders of America, National Honor Society, Hugh O'Brien Youth Leadership Seminar, Cornhusker...
Cole Gaughenbaugh didn't always know he would become a teacher. The O'Neill St. Mary's graduate envisioned life as a chiropractor and enrolled in classes at Wayne State College in the fall 2019 semester. Seven months later, the pandemic struck. "The whole world got thrown for a loop," he said. Gaughenbaugh packed his bags and headed home, to O'Neill, to finish classes. He contemplated returning to college, deciding to seek a business degree. Call it divine intervention - or the Master's plan -...
Yuliana Olivan, a junior at Summerland Public Schools, will represent Clearwater American Legion Post #267 Auxiliary at the 2023 session of Cornhusker Girls State this June. Auxiliary president Shirrale Legate told SAM she was notified Monday of Olivan's acceptance. Olivan, daughter or Regino Olivan and Graciele Reyes, of Clearwater, is active in a number of school activities, including Dance Catz, speech, one-act and SkillsUSA, in which she qualified for national competition in 2022. As a...
Summerland middle school members of SkillsUSA highlighted technical skills in a variety of competitions at the March 1 Middle School Skills Conference in Grand Island. Chapter advisor Mike Odell said eight students took part in the opening session and competitions. A team of four students will advance to the state competition in April. Cassie Livingston, Jaelyn Shaver and Sierra Thomson won first place in team engineering. Odell said the contest involves critical thinking and decision-making...
How many sheets of 8.5-inch by 11-inch paper will it take to construct an apparatus to reach and move a ping pong ball from point A to point B? Cassie Livingston, Jaelyn Shaver and Sierra Thomson know it the answer: Five sheets, two paper clips and a whole lot of tape. The trio won the team engineering challenge at the SkillsUSA Middle School Conference, March 1, in Grand Island. Each participant decided to participate in the engineering event for different reasons. Livingston said she wanted...
Sometimes, things don't go as planned. Despite a few hiccups during a presentation in job skills demo, open, Taelyn Nilson finished first in. Nilson decided to compete because, in her words, "It seemed fun." She wrote and memorized a speech demonstrating how to make a recipe. According to event rules, Nilson used a table and had access to one duplex 110-volt electrical outlet. She took all the necessary supplies with her. Prior to the presentation, Nilson said, "I measured out my ingredients...
Two Summerland seventh-grade students discovered construction a vehicle takes patience and a lot of testing. Luke Kester and Zander Tabbert competed in mousetrap vehicle - distance competition. Kester finished third in the event. He said the event seemed like a challenge he was willing to tackle. "I have liked creating cool things since I was three," he said, noting he had seen others build the mousetrap vehicles. "It inspired me to create my own." He started the process by planning a design...
What do a camera, hammer, computer, fireman, airplane, whisk, medical symbol and robot all have in common? "They represent events available through SkillsUSA," said Jorden Cox, a seventh-grade student at Summerland Public School. Cox incorporated those design elements inside an outline of the state of Nebraska as part of the T-shirt design competition at the conference. He said he chose the event because he has assisted his mom, Courtney Soper, proprietor of Naptime Kreations, make T-shirts. He...
