SEVEN EARN CHAMPIONSHIPS AT SPEECH INVITE    
Seven Bearcats were champions as the Kearney High speech team won the Norfolk "Roger Maxwell Invite" for the third consecutive year. The Bearcats scored 926 points to beat second-place North Platte with 518 in a field of fourteen teams.   
Champions included Madeline Christensen in informative, Katie Nelson in dramatic interpretation, Maggie Konz in oratory, Karlee Currin and Keegan Potthoff in duo interpretation, and Devon Marr, Anna Nelson, Katie Nelson, Currin, and Potthoff in oral interpretation of drama.
Five Bearcats were triple medalists. Currin also placed third in humorous interp. Jessa Newby was third in informative, third in duet acting with her partner, Chris Lyons, and fourth in oral interpretation of drama with teammates Betsy Christians, Tyler Woodside, Christensen, and Lyons. Lyons also placed fourth in entertainment. In addition to wins in dramatic interp and O.I.D., Katie Nelson placed third in duet improv with Konz. Anna Nelson was sixth in entertainment, fifth in duet acting with partner Farah Imtiaz, and was a member of the champion OID.
Additional award winners included Christians, who finished fourth in duet acting with partner Natalie Wozniak, who was third in entertainment.
Ann Holen was also a double medalist, earning runner-up honors in novice platforms and sixth in duet improv with her partner, Emelie Berke. Hanna Allen was runner-up, Imtiaz was third, and Emily Garden fourth, in novice platforms. Kelli Skinner and Sydney Tillotson were fourth in duet improv. Alex Kinnaman and Carly Nielsen placed third and fourth in oratory.  Informative medalists included Sarah Walsh, runner-up, and Kelsey Reiman, sixth. Damares Campos was six in extemporaneous; Araceli Hernandez was sixth in novice extemp.  Kaz Risk finished sixth in novice interpretation.     

KHS TIES FOR SECOND IN DEBATE INVITE
Twenty-one students from the KHS Debate team competed at the Norfolk Roger Maxwell Invitational on Saturday November 15, 2008.  The Debate team tied for 2nd/3rd for overall sweepstakes point in the area of debate.  The KHS Speech and Debate teams brought home the overall sweepstakes winner trophy.  Greg Ludowese won fourth speaker award in varsity congress.  YinFu Chen took 2nd speaker award in Varsity PFD.  Other competitors were Varsity PFD Ashley Albright, Sammi Ritchie, Spencer Walford, Callan Christensen, Olivia Whittaker, Lauren Walford, and Jose Hernandez.  Novice PFD competitors were Andrew Alvin, Austin Smith, Rachael Buss, Katrina Keogh, Jacob Grantzinger, Mark Lundell, Veronica Baetz, and Allysa Kulhanek.  Marcus Richardson was our Varsity LD competitor and our novice Ld competitors were Alex Bartlett and Kenzie Tuttle.  In Congress we also had Ross Sparks.   

FCCLA ATTENDS CONFERENCE 
The Kearney High FCCLA Chapter attended the District 11 Leadership Conference on November 6 at UNK.  Members attending were Cassie Houser, Kylie Surmeier, Annah Buss, Kathryn Wood side, Damares Campos, Argini Boken, Rachel Buss, Abi Pofhal, Emily Vogt, Kassi Anderson, Jordan Corder, Emily Crouch, Kelsey Reiman, Bill Crosier, Kellie Warren, and Carly Henning.  Advsier were Carol Kreutzer and Kathy Gifford.  Members attended interest sessions including Culinary Arts, Family challenges, Tai Chi, Financial Fitness, Student Body - Health, and Leadership.  Two career fields were emphasized this year as requested by members.  They were Health Care Sciences and Industrial Technology.  Members were able to attend a panel of business representatives in that field or participate in a UNK field trip to the department. 
Poster competitions representing some of the national programs were included in the conference. 
Kearney High had four first place winners.  In the senior division they were Kathryn Wood side - Families First, Kelsey Reiman - Financial Fitness, Cassie Houser - Promoting FCCLA.  In the junior division - Rachel Buss - Promoting FCCLA. 
Kiley Surmeier also ran for state officer candidate and was elected.  She'll advance to state competition to be held in April. Advisers to the chapter are Carol Kreutzer and Kathy Gifford.

KHS SPEECH TEAM ELECTS OFFICERS AND CAPTAINS 
The Kearney High speech team recently elected officers and announced team captains. 
President is Betsy Christians; Maggie Konz is vice president.  Jessa Newby will serve as National Forensic League point recorder.  Keegan Potthoff is public relations officer.  Sophomore and freshman class representatives are Kelsey Reiman and Madeline Christensen. 
Team captains selected by the coaching staff include Karlee Currin, humorous interp; Katie Nelson, dramatic interp; Natalie Wozniak, entertainment; Christians, poetry; Newby, informative;  Konz, oratory; Reiman, extemporaneous; and Potthoff, duet acting/ duo interp. 

PARK STUDENT WINS POSTER CONTEST

KEARNEY—Paige Pearson, 9, a third grade student from Park Elementary in Kearney, won a countywide contest to have the honor of her drawing become this year’s “Slow Down in Our Neighborhood” signs.  Pearson’s design features a boy and a girl waiting to cross the street next to a stop sign, along with a school bus full of happy school children. The words “Slow Down in Our Neighborhood” remind all drivers of the reason for the signs. Pearson is the daughter of Stacie and Leon Pearson of Kearney. The contest, sponsored by Good Samaritan Hospital, is open to all Buffalo County kindergarten through fifth grade students, and helps school children promote and learn safe pedestrian and driving practices.  “The kids do a great job drawing sign designs. It’s so hard to select one to be the winner because they are all great in their own way. Thank you to each child who participated as well as the teachers and the schools who make the contest possible,” said Holly Warth, prevention trauma nurse coordinator for Good Samaritan Hospital. Signs are available for $7 from Good Samaritan Hospital’s Sure Cure Gift Shop.  Participating schools also receive a number of signs to distribute. Individual winners from participating schools for the sign contest are: Bryant – Danielle Santistevan, Central – Summer Martinez, Emerson – Rhiannon Nelson, Glenwood – Brooke Griss, Kenwood – Peyton Gibbs, Meadowlark – Matthew Stute, Northeast – Brock Hale, Riverdale – Macy Nickel, Stone – Macquel Melroy, Windy Hills – Bo Daake

KHS Student Bowls perfect game
Brock Spangler, KHS,  bowled a perfect 300 game last night, November 4, during league play at the Big Apple. Brock is a student at Kearney High and the son of Randal and Tammy Spangler of Kearney.

 KHS DEBATE COMPETITION
The KHS Debate Team traveled to Lincoln Southwest on Saturday November 8th for their first competitive tournament of the season, the Silver Talon Debate tournament.  Thirty-three members competed at the event. 
In Novice Student Congress House one, Wyatt Behn took sixth place in speaker points and Abby Fong took first in speaker points. Other KHS competitors included Allie Lewis, Jacob Oertle,and Virginia Gormley.
In Varsity House 2, Mattie Traphagan was Presiding Officer and took fifth place in speaker points.
In Varsity Public Forum, Callan Christensen and Spencer Walford were quarter finalists and won first speaker points. Other KHS competitors in Varsity Public Forum Debate: Sammi Ritchie, Ashley Albright, Yin Fu Chen, Jose Hernandez, Olivia Whittaker , Lauren Walford, Ellie Meyer and Zachary Kealy.
In Novice Public Forum, Sarah Larsen and Claire Seifert were semi finalists. In Novice Public Forum Debate: KHS competitors included Veronica Baetz, Allysa Kulhanek, Rachael Buss, Katrina Keogh, Anna Adamson, Brielle Schultz, Levi Harrison, Jared McClenahan, Cody Jordan, Jessie Robinson, Sara Bartels, and Justine Runge.
In Varsity Lincoln Douglas, Marcus Richardson took 6th place in speaker points. In Novice Lincoln Douglas, KHS competitors also included Alex Bartleltt and Sagan Sculley.

 KHS BAND GOES TO SUGAR BOWL
Kearney High Band will perform at the Sugar Bowl.  They will travel to New Orleans Dec.29, 2009 through Jan.2, 2010.  The band was chosen by Bowl Games of America, which provides band directors with opportunities to showcase their bands on a national level.  Band students will play pre-game and halftime shows.  They will also perform in Jackson Square in the French Quarter.  The band also hopes to take in some historical landmarks and museums while visiting New Orleans.  "We work very hard to be able to have a special event and to celebrate as a band" said KHS band instructor Aaron Svoboda.

KHS Marching Band Competes at State Marching Contest
The Bearcat Marching Band competed in the 26th annual Nebraska State Bandmaster's Marching Contest at Seacrest Field in Lincoln on October 25th. The 180 member band was awarded an ‘Excellent' award for their performance of music from the show Riverdance. They are directed by Aaron Svoboda and Rick Mitchell.

KHS students selected for All-State Band & Choral
Two members of Kearney High's Band auditioned and were selected to participate in the Nebraska Music Educator Association All-State Band Ensemble. Sophomores Rosemary Mena-Werth will play the clarinet while Jacob Petr will play the alto saxophone for the All-State concert. The nine choral students selected were:  Shade Ingraham, Stephanie Coello, Kristen Klein, Jaci Uden, Jenna Bullis, Liza Thalken, Keegan Potthoff, Ryan Bauer, Christopher Lyons, Matthew Kreutzer, James Wolf.  The performance will be in Lincoln at the Lied Center for Performing Arts on Saturday, November 22nd and is open to the public.

  2008 SING AROUND NEBRASKA CHILDREN'S HONOR CHOIR 
The following Kearney Public School students have been selected for the 2008 Sing Around Nebraska Children's Honor Choir.  The event will be held on November 14-15 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts in Lincoln.  The choir of 150 fifth and sixth graders are selected from across the state through an audition process.
Park: Allie Kingsley,  Matthew Carter,   Reed Wallace
Kenwood:Arianna Spellman, Jordan Dietz,  Gabrielle Webb
Glenwood:Krista Benesch and Michaela Warnke.
Sunrise: Hannah Woodward, Trevor Lybarger, Alexis Turner
Northeast:Kurt Nelson, Anna Kahle, Erynn Dahlke
Emerson : Rachel Bisbee
Meadowlark:Kaylie Johnson, Cassie Mathews, Hannah Sickler, Mariah Stelling, and Nicole vonAschwege
Horizon:Kaitlyn Moore, Anna Kugler, Tristen Goetz, Brady Johnson, Benna Noller, Emma Crockett, Allison Bauer, Rachel Balter, Jordan Knispel
           

STUDENTS SELECTED TO YOUTH CHOIRS 
Three young men from Horizon have been selected for the NATIONAL AMERICAN CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION YOUTH HONOR CHOIR which will be the first week of March in Oklahoma City, OK.  These students were selected from over 1,200 students from across the USA:
Sean-Michael Ruppert, John Kingsley, Kaden Smidt,

The following students have been selected to attend the Nebraska Choral Directors' Singing Youth Festival Choir in February: Kaden SmidT, John Kingsley, Aquan Green, Rosamond Thalken, Grace Manley, Carrie Hanson, Stephanie Munch, Zack Wayman, Steven Bontz, Sean-Michael Ruppert, Cassidy Sostad

 KHS MARCHING BAND RECEIVES EXCELLENT
On Oct. 25th the Bearcat Marching Band/Color Guard received an 'Excellent' or a '2' rating on their performance at the NSBA.

 SAB ATTEND STAE CONVENTION
On October 17, the Kearney High School Student Advisory Board (SAB) attended the State Student Council Convention held at Papillion-LaVista South High School. For the 14th year in a row, KHS SAB was awarded with the Gold Award for Outstanding Student Council. They were also recognized by Make-a-Wish as a Wish Partner for their contributions this year.
Junior Trevor Woodward was elected as this year's state vice-president.  Trevor is also the KHS SAB Public Relations Officer and the District 3 Co-President (NE Middle Region).   As  the state SAB Vice President, Trevor is required to come up with a state service project for all student councils in NE and has created a program called "Ages to Ages",   a project that links youth with the elderly.
Also at the state convention, KHS Assistant Principal Trent Steele was named Outstanding Principal of the Year. Mr. Steele was nominated by SAB and selected by the state board for this honor.

KHS MEMBERS OF THE ALL-STATE ORCHESTRA
Each year, over 2000 of the best high school musicians in the state audition for the Nebraska All-State Band, Chorus, Jazz Band and Orchestra which are sponsored by the Nebraska Music Educators Association.  Selection as a member of one of these groups is one of the highest musical honors attainable in Nebraska.  Mr. Dave Klein, Chair of Orchestra Affairs for the Nebraska Music Educators Association, is pleased to announce that  Violin: Yin Fu Chen, Viola: Katelyn Dahlke, Natalie Wozniak, Katy Ayers, Cherie Oaklund, Double Bass Isaac Almquist, Kory Reeder, and Harp: Briana Pallas will be among the 145 students selected to be a part of the 2008 All-State Orchestra.  Guest conductor for the group will be Dr. Louis Bergonzi, University of Illinois.  The orchestra will rehearse Thursday, November 20th through Saturday November 22nd on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, the host site of the 2008 NMEA Conference/Clinic.  A final public concert will be held on Saturday, November 22nd at the Lied Center for the Performing Arts on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus.  Information regarding concert times, ticket prices and availability will be included in a direct mailing to All-State members from the NMEA executive director.  

 KHS BAND SUPERIOR
The Kearney High Marching Band participated in the Links Marching Band Contest at Lincoln High School on Saturday, October 11th. The 180 member band received a ‘Superior' rating for their performance featuring Irish music from the show Riverdance. Directors are Aaron Svoboda and Rick Mitchell. The marching Bearcats will next perform on Friday, October 17th at half-time of the Kearney vs. Norfolk football game held at UNK.

COACH OWENS EARNS 200TH WIN IN VOLLEYBALL
Coach Jason Owens took the volleyball team to the Lincoln East Triangular where they beat Norfolk to give Coach Owens his 200th win.  The fans had sticks with a picture of his face on them to hold up in support his 200th win.  Here's a picture of the team celebrating with Coach Owens.

KHS BAND WINS SWEEPSTAKES
Kearney High School's 180 member band participated in the Columbus Marching Festival on Saturday, October 4th.  The day began with a first place award, marching in the morning parade followed by an afternoon performance featuring Irish music from Riverdance. The students competed with 13 class AA bands and received a Superior rating for the show. They were also chosen for the overall ‘Sweepstakes' honors competing against 23 other bands.  The band consists of freshman through senior students, and they are directed by Aaron Svoboda and Rick Mitchell. Their next performance is Saturday, October 11th at Lincoln High School.  

HENNING NAMED TO NATIONAL COMMITTEE
The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) recently announced that Judy Henning, Kearney Public Schools Director of Media Services and Kearney High School Media Specialist, has been named to the AASL Advocacy Committee for 2009-2010.  Her committee appointment will begin with the American Library Association (ALA)/AASL Midwinter Conference in Denver in January.

KULHANEK WALMART TEACHER OF THE YEAR
Marilee Kulhanek was recognized by Wal-Mart today at our school for being chosen as their "Teacher of the Year."  Her kids will enjoy a cake from Wal-Mart tomorrow in the classroom and she received a $1,000 check to spend for the school.  Cheryl Popple was recognized as the runner up.  Her kids will also enjoyed cake and she received $100 worth of Box Tops for the school.

KHS FALL ROYALTY CROWNED
Junior Royalty
    2nd Attendants: Lauren Andrews and Easton Schlender
    1st Attendants: Liza Thalken and Trevor Woodward

Senior Royalty
   2nd Attendants: Timaree Wiederspan and Garrett Bush
   1st Attendants: Katie Nightingale and Brady Schutte
   Princess and Prince: Maggie Maher and Brady Roeder
   Queen and King: McKenzie Stevens and Phillip Martin

 KPS MILLION DOLLAR GRANT
The Kearney Public Schools has received a competitive, three-year, $1.1 million grant from the US Department of Education's Elementary and Secondary School Counseling program to improve elementary schools' counseling services, staff development, and community involvement activities. KPS Foundation President Bill Kenagy said that in the past 5 years, the Foundation has secured more than $5.2 million in grants for KPS to provide additional learning opportunities for students and staff development.
"The Foundation was instrumental in helping to secure one of 53 national grants awarded by the Department this year. Our staff provided grant writing, coordination, and research services to KPS staff. We worked together to develop the proposal, CADRES (Caring Actions to Develop Relationships at Elementary Schools)," said Kenagy  The CADRES project will be directed by Dr. Carol Renner, Associate Superintendent, and Connie Larson, KPS Special Education Director. The project has three goals:
Goal 1: Expand counseling services available to elementary school students and their families;  Goal 2: To improve elementary school students' readiness to learn and promote their healthy development by addressing their barriers to learning;  Goal 3: To provide innovative professional development for elementary school counselors, social workers, psychologists, elementary teachers and principals.
"We are anxious to begin working with this project. In particular, I'm looking forward to seeing the impact school social workers will have on our families and staff. KPS has never employed school social workers, and I'm excited to see how they work with our families and staff to improve student readiness to learn," said Dr. Brian Maher, Kearney Public Schools Superintendent

32 SELECTED FOR BEARCAT SPEECH TEAM
Varsity team members include entertainers Chris Lyons, Anna Nelson, and Natalie Wozniak;  orators will be Shelby Andersen-Holt, Alex Kinnaman, Maggie Konz, Carly Nielsen, and Tory Peak. Informative speakers are Emelie Berke, Madeline Christensen, Emily Nelson, Jessa Newby, Kelsey Reiman, Kyleigh Skaggs, and Sarah Walsh. Interpers are Demaris Campos, Betsy Christians, Karlee Currin, Devon Marr, Katie Nelson, Keegan Potthoff, and Sydney Tillotson.   Junior varsity team members competing in platform events include Hanna Allen, Emily Garden, Araceli Hernandez, Ann Holen, Farah Imtiaz, Park Ki, Harry Meister, Kaz Risk, Kelli Skinner, and Tyler Woodside.  Tryouts for the oral interpretation of drama groups will be on  Wednesday, October 1 at 3:30 in KHS room 303.  Any team member is eligible to audition. Practices for the speech team will begin on Monday, October 6. The Bearcat Speakers will open their season at Norfolk on Friday, November 14.  Coaches are Mary Alice Konz with assistants Blake Thompson, Grant Campbell, Grant Torpin, Christy Sedral, Cassie Larreau, Brian Frost, Robert Friedman, and Alicia Goodner.

KPS DUKE QUALIFIERS
Kearney Public Schools is pleased to announce that the following students have qualified to participate in the Duke University Talent Search for 2008-2009.  The Duke Talent Search is offered every year to qualifying students as a national academic competition.  These seventh grade students are eligible to take the ACT or SAT by having achievement test scores at the 95th percentile or higher in at least one area on either their fifth grade or sixth grade Iowa Test of Basic Skills or a similar achievement test.  Horizon qualifiers are: Ethan Abramson, Creighton Amm, Jaeden Anderson, Taylor Axtell, Katherine Berke, Sara Bilhmaier, Amy Bruning, Wilson Chatelain, Alex Drilling, Jarek Ebert, Eric Elder, Sydney Engberg, Logan Fong, Francisco Garcia, Crystal Gleason, Shania Gould, Savanna Harvey, Yezenia Hernandez, Trevor Hibberd, Trevin Jones, Alexis Keck, Jacob Kingsley, Teana Koeppe, Makaela Kotrous, Connor Krier, Alexander Kuefner, Richard Leonard, Christa Lovitt, Jeremy Malmstrom, Allie-Marie McCann, Brenna McFadden, Delaney McFadden, Ashlyne Meseure, Jennifer Nelson, Evan Parish, Hadley Paulsen, Deven Payne, Brenna Petersen, John Potthoff, Christopher Rogers, Dillon Rose, Brockton Sayer, Shannon Skinner, Savanna Smith, Cassidy Sostad, Isaac Stansbury, Cody Stuehm, Joseph Synek, Marilyn Synek, Rachel Taylor, Duy Tran, Peyton VanWinkle, Megan Widger. Stuart Wilke, and Lauren Williams.Sunrise qualifiers include:  Meg Arnold, Samantha Baumert, Aaron Bisbee, Taylor Bishop, Bailey Block, Zane Brandt, Matthew Case, Benjamin Clark, Samantha Cromer, Bryce Cronin, Jake Culey, Kaci Drahota, Austin Fraser, Jennifer Frederick, Abigail Graham, Brogan Hagan, Logan Hansen, Alexander Harbols, Justin Harms, Kolten Harshbarger, Austin Hartley, Eryn Haubold, Sarah Hughes, Derek Jackson, Tara Jamison, Shelby Janke, Stephanie Jarnigin, Tina Javidi, Blake Johnson, Nizar Khayat, Lynette Kleeb, Cassandra Kohel-Trotter, Keona Koster, Christopher Larson, Jacob Leonard, Kalie Leonard, Jennifer Lopez, Ryan Main, Callen Maupin, Clark Meyer, Karmin Moncrief, Mikayla Moreno, Quenton Mosel, Tyler Newby, Jamieson Oertle, Tori Olson, Tristen Pegg, Austin Persinger, MiKayla Pineda, Skyler Plambeck, Sarah Polter, Lainey Russell, Dakota Schriner, Crystal Schroer, Kaitlyn Skala, Nicholas Stewart, Nick Theis, Whitney Thompson, Nolan Thurston, Jaydn Trimble, Evan Vansyckle, Jaime Vazquez, C'Sandra Vest, Philip Vornhagen, Kate Wessels, Brian Whetstone, Dillon Whitcomb, Nicholas Whitehead, Kiera Whitmore, Ellie Winter, Stephen Wright, Brennan Young