Death Notice: Janice V. "Lady Elvis" Kucera

A funeral service for Janice will be 2pm Tuesday, December 23, 2025 at Farmer Funeral Home in Exeter. A Graveside Service will be in the Exeter Cemetery immediately following the Funeral Service. 

Public Visitation will be Monday, December 22, 2025 from 4:00-8:00pm at the Farmer Funeral Home in Exeter, Nebraska. 

Memorials are suggested to the family for future designation.

From Panem to the Podium: A Look Inside a Dynamic High School Classroom

As the semester winds down, one of EMF’s high school classrooms is buzzing with reflection, collaboration, and performance. Sophomore English students, lead by Mrs. Brandi Perez, are putting the finishing touches of their study of The Hunger Games, while students in speech are transforming the room into a stage, showcasing the power of words in both written and spoken form.

In English class, students recently concluded their exploration of Suzanne Collin’s dystopian novel, The Hunger Games. Through close reading and discussion, classes examined enduring themes such as survival, the role of violence and reality television and the dangers of a dystopian society built on control and spectacle.  These conversations push students to think beyond the plot and consider how fiction mirrors real world issues, including media influence and moral responsibility.

Now students are channeling those discussions into analytical writing. Each sophomore has been crafting an essay that focuses on one character and one theme from the novel. Using textual evidence, students must identify and explain at least three character traits that connect directly to the chosen theme. The assignment challenges students to think critically, support claims with evidence, and articulate deeper connections between character development and larger ideas presented in the text.

In the same room, later on in the day, another learning is taking center stage. In high school speech, students are partnering up to rehearse and perform duet speeches. These short performances require precise timing, strong collaboration, and a shared commitment to engaging the audience.

The topics range from humorous to heartfelt, reflecting both creativity and courage. Some duets explore lighthearted scenarios, such as being “ allergic to idiots”  or navigating the awkward realities of learning about boys and letting them down gently. Others tackle heavier, more serious situations, including the tension and fear of being stuck in a closet during a school shooting.  Regardless of the subject matter, students are challenged to work together to captivate their audience and deliver a unified message.

Across both classes, a common thread emerged: communication matters. Whether students are analyzing a dystopian heroine's resilience or standing shoulder to shoulder with a partner on stage, they are learning how words shape understanding, emotion, and connection.

As novels close and performances approach, this classroom reflects more than just the end of unit assignments; it highlights the growth of young thinkers finding their voices, one page and one performance at a time. 

EMF GBB at Sterling

 Photos courtesy of EMF Yearbook.

What's New on the Library Shelves? | Romance Edition

 For Richer For Poorer by Danielle Steel

After working as head designer for Oscar de la Renta, Eugenia Ward started her own company when she turned forty, fourteen years ago. She is now a major name in evening gowns and wedding gowns, ready-to-wear and haute couture. But with the fashion business in major downturn, she has recently suffered heavy losses, and Eugenia desperately needs new investors—and new ideas.

At the same time, she is the matriarch and guiding light for her five adult children, a single mother for more than a decade, since her divorce from the spendthrift Italian prince she’d married young. As the family gathers for a summer vacation at a beach house, wedding plans for her daughter Gloria are ballooning in expense even as the loutish behavior of Gloria’s fiancé causes Eugenia to question her daughter’s judgment. Meanwhile, Gloria’s sister Daphne is due to deliver twins right around the wedding date . . . which is also very close make or break New York Fashion Week.

The silver lining in it all may be meeting Patrick Hughes, a successful real estate developer who’s also going through a rough patch. A brilliant and creative businessman, Patrick gives her valuable advice about her business challenges. Eugenia finds friendship with Patrick sailing on his yacht and starts to imagine a new beginning, independent of her roles as mother and entrepreneur. But as the family gathers for the big wedding, tensions are running high, money may be running out, and a hurricane is looming on the horizon.

Danielle Steel’s glamorous and gripping novel offers an inspiring portrait of a strong and determined woman who rises to meet life’s challenges with fortitude, creativity, and love.

Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild

Honor seems to have everything: she adores her bright and beautiful daughter, Chloe, and her charming, handsome husband, Tom, even if he works one hundred hours a week. Yet Honor’s longing for another baby threatens to eclipse all of it―until a shocking event changes their lives forever.

Years later, Tom makes a decision that ripples through their families' lives in ways he could never have foreseen. As the consequences of that fateful choice unfold, two women's paths become irrevocably intertwined. But when old love clashes with new, who will be left standing? And what happens when your secrets come back to haunt you?

Blending a riveting moral dilemma with satisfying emotional poignancy, Finding Grace is a sweeping love story that explores the price of a new beginning, how the ghosts of our past shape our future, and whether redemption can be found in the wreckage of what we've lost.

A Mother's Love by Danielle Steel

On the occasion of her daughter Valerie’s wedding and her upcoming fiftieth birthday, bestselling author Halley Holbrook finds herself reflecting. Raising twins Valerie and Olivia is her proudest accomplishment. Halley has been able to give them the loving and safe home she never had, having survived a childhood so traumatic she’s never talked about it with her girls. Long ago, Halley decided to live in the sunlight of the present, not the dark shadows of the past.

After Valerie moves to Los Angeles with her producer husband, and Olivia follows to remain close to her sister, Halley is empty-nesting in her Fifth Avenue apartment. Facing her first holiday alone in years, she books a trip to Paris.

On the flight over, she meets charming Bart Warner, and the two become fast friends. Halley hasn’t dated since her partner died three years ago, yet she quickly begins to feel more like herself. But when a cunning thief makes off with her handbag and then begins to harass her, it reawakens old ghosts from her past. Vowing not to be a victim, and with Bart’s help, she chooses a bold course of action.

The moving story of a woman determined to give her daughters what she never had—a mother’s love—Danielle Steel’s gripping novel is a story of emotional resilience and truly letting go.