American Legion Auxiliary Chooses Girls State Representative

Exeter American Legion Auxiliary Unit 218 will be represented at the 2011 Cornhusker Girls State by Claire White.
The session is from June 5 -11, 2011 and will host over 400 delegates from around the state. Cornhusker Girls State is a unique program, it's purpose is to educate the young women of Nebraska in the fundamental aspects of citizenship.

Selection as a delegate to Girls State is one of the highest honors conferred on a high school student. Young women who are selected to participate in Girls State have the opportunity to develop a deep understanding of the workings of government at the city, county and state level. Part of the experience at Girls State is learning about the election process including campaigning and elections.  The young women are challenged to strive for and assume leadership roles.

During the event the participants hear from the governor and other elected leaders as well as government and military personnel who volunteer their time and experiences to share with the participants.

Claire, an Exeter-Milligan junior, is the daughter of Brad and Darcy White of rural Exeter. She participates in Volleyball, Basketball and Track along with FCCLA, Band, Speech, One-Act and Quiz Bowl. She is a member of the National Honor Society and the St. Stephens Catholic church.

Congratulations to State Track Meet Qualifiers

Congratulations to the Exeter-Milligan State Track Meet Qualifiers.  They are:

Heather Pribyl -1600 Meter Run & 800 Meter Run
Jennifer Pribyl -800 Meter Run
Austin Stride -100, 200 and 400 Meter Dash
Nolan White - Discus

Relay 4 x 800 and 4 x 400
Heather Pribyl
Taylor Erdkamp
Alicia Bigelow
Jennifer Pribyl

Sheffield Receives Honorary FFA Degree

Exeter-Milligan Superintendent Paul Sheffield was recently recognized at the 83rd Nebraska State FFA Convention with a Honorary State Degree.  Sheffield was honored as an indivdual who has rendered outstanding service to the agricultural education-FFA program.  Sheffield coordinates the Exeter-Milligan program which co-ops with Shickley.

Boeck Chooses Exeter-Milligan For Donation

Jerry Boeck, left, chose the Exeter-Milligan FFA program to direct the Pioneer Hi-Bred donation. Here he presents a check for $400.00 to Exeter-Milligan Superintendent Paul Sheffield, right.

Jerry Boeck, a sales agent with Pioneer Hi-Bred, has donated $400 to the Exeter-Milligan FFA program.  Boeck was awarded this scholarship money by Pioneer for his dedication to customer-focused activities throughout the year.

Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business, is the world's leading source of customized solutions for farmers, livestock producers and grain and oilseed processors. With headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa, Pioneer provides access to advanced plant genetics in nearly 70 countries.

DuPont is a science-based products and services company. Founded in 1802, DuPont puts science to work by creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere.  Operating in more than 70 countries, DuPont offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture and food; building and construction; communications; and transportation.

Exeter Care Center Hosts Volunteer Tea

Exeter Care Center hosted an afternoon tea for all who volunteered at their facility in this last year.  Members of many of the local woman's groups were present to be thanked and enjoyed a gift of flower seeds as well as a beautiful tea.

The group was enteretained by the Exeter-Milligan kindergarten, first and second graders who presented their music program from their spring concert and then sang several numbers that were very familiar to the crowd including "Apples and Bananas" and "Down by the Bay."

After the entertainment the residents and guests moved to the dining room where they enjoyed tea sandwiches, sweets and punch.

Fillmore County 4-H Update

 

Fillmore County 4-H’ers Sidney Jividen, Erin Schmidt, Cole Jividen, Tori Stoldorf and Extension Intern Molly Trausch planted several vegetables and flowers in the Fillmore County community garden. For more information or to help, contact Fillmore County Extension or Fillmore County FSA.

Youth Give Back to the Community

One of the integral parts of the 4-H youth development program is community service. With community service come collaborations with other organizations. Recently, two 4-H community service projects were completed in Fillmore County.

As part of the Barn Quilts of Fillmore County project, 4-H’ers selected, painted and constructed an 8’x8’ quilt block. The quilt block, an adaptation of a clover quilt block, was recently hung on the grandstand at the Fillmore County Fairgrounds. Over the past year, 14 volunteers put in over 35 hours prepping and hanging the quilt block. Fillmore Central FFA members provided the strength to hang the 125 pound quilt block. The quilt block can be seen from K street and will remain on display for years to come. The 4-H quilt block is sponsored by the Fillmore County Agricultural Society and the Fillmore County 4-H Council.

Fillmore County Farm Service Agency and Fillmore County 4-H have teamed up to plant a community garden. Local FFA Chapters and other organizations interested in participating are welcome. A small crop of popular vegetables was planted by 4-H’ers on May 9, west of the FSA office. Produce will be donated to those in need and the Meals on Wheels program. FSA and 4-H will be caring for the garden throughout the summer.

The community garden is part of the Let’s Move Initiative started by First Lady Michelle Obama. The initiative works to solve the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation. Let’s Move Faith and Communities is designed to support local efforts and highlight accomplishments in communities across the country.

As a part of the Let’s Move Faith and Communities initiative National 4-H has committed to:

– Developing 2,600 school gardens in 2011 that will yield over 650,000 pounds of fresh produce, provided to those in need.

– One million young people get involved in community gardening.

Fillmore Central FFA members and 4-H members recently hung the Fillmore County 4-H barn quilt at the Fillmore County Fairgrounds. The barn quilt is part of the Barn Quilts of Fillmore County project.

Exeter-Milligan Fourth Graders Learn About Geo-Caching

 

Exeter-Milligan students in Susan Wait’s fourth grade class used hand held GPS units to navigate the school grounds and park in Milligan searching for hidden cache boxes.

Exeter-Milligan fourth graders recently participated in the 4-H School Enrichment Geocaching activity. 14 students in Susan Wait’s fourth grade class used global satellite technology to search for hidden caches on and around the school grounds in Milligan. Lyndsey Pohlmeier, Extension Assistant taught students about longitude and latitude, the uses of GPS, and geocaching as a hobbie. Fourth graders learned to mark and find waypoints using hand-held Global Positioning System (GPS) units provided by the Fillmore County Extension Office.

Students participated in a scavenger hunt using the GPS units along with the latitude and longitude coordinates to determine the location of hidden cache boxes. Students answered a question about GPS before searching for the next cache box. The final hidden cache contained a small prize for each student.

Death Notice Shirley Thomsen

Shirley M. Thomsen, age 75 of Exeter Nebraska died in Lincoln on Thursday May 12, 2011. She was born to George & Elizabeth ( Kahler ) Fox on April 23,1936 in Geneva, Nebraska.
Survivors include:
Sons
Robert Thomsen Fairmont, NE
Jeff Thomsen Geneva, NE
Daughter
Shela Smith Fairmont, NE
Brother
Dean & Sharon Fox Kearney, NE
Sister
Dorothy Ballou Exeter, NE
Grandchildren #6
Great Grandchildren #7
Nieces & nephews
Services: 10 a.m., Monday
Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church
Cordova, NE
Officiating is Pastor Karen Tjarks
Visitation Sunday from 1 p.m. until 8 p.m. at the Farmer Funeral Home in Exeter

Graveside services: Zastrow Cemetery
Cordova, Nebraska

Backpack Program gets a donation

The Exeter-Milligan School Back Pack program recently received a donation of $523.00 from music instructor Nancy Jo Galusha and her students. Currently the Exeter United Methodist Church has embraced this project as one of their missions in the community.

The church provides the bulk of the $200.00 cost per child during the school year to stuff backpacks with nutritional food which will feed a family of four for the weekend.

Each summer the school sends letters to families providing applications for the program.  This school year the group was able to serve four students down from the nine they served last year.  The church has financed the program with some community assistance for the past two years.

The church welcomes additional contribution to help the program as it is administered through the Food Bank of Lincoln.  Anyone wishing to contribute is welcome to send their tax-deductible gift to:

Food Bank of Lincoln, Inc., 4840 Doris Bair Circle, Suite A, Lincoln NE 68504, Note : For the Exeter-Milligan School Account or to Exeter Methodist Church, % LaVonne Guthrie, PO Box 77, Exeter NE 68351

Exeter-Milligan visits Edgerton Explorit Center

Exeter-Milligan Kindergarten, first and second graders spent Friday learning and exploring at the Edgerton Explorit Center in Aurora.

The students enjoyed learning about stopping time during a demonstration by Executive Director Ken Schroeder. They took a photo of a balloon popping and learned about the Stroboscope which was invented by Doctor Harold Edgerton who grew up in Aurora, Nebraska. The center holds many of his inventions and ideals and has a goal to teach visitors with hands-on exhibits and demonstrations.

Throughout the visit the students also enjoyed playing with a life-size operation game, took pictures of themselves popping balloons and also enjoyed playing with the giant bubble wand and giant bubbles the learned about during a demonstration on making bubbles which involved them each being encased in a bubble.

After enjoying lunch at a local park the group had fun learning about some really cold science.  They learned about dry ice and watched multiple demonstrations on the properties of water by Mike Randall, the science educator at the center.

The ended the day of fun and learning with a shocking experiment.  The final demonstration of the day was by John Thompson, director of operations. The Van de Graff generator was the spark of this show, teaching the kids about electricity.  The students took turns making a circle to feel a shock run from one student to another through their hands.

The Edgerton Explorit Center hosts schools and groups as well as individuals and according to Randall, "what we do here is getting kids inspired about science."  Part of that mission involves summer camps and Mad Science Mondays.