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Aurora farmer Mitch Oswald recently returned from two weeks abroad as part of his LEAD 40 fellowship. One of many tour locations for Oswald included a pineapple farm in Panama. -
Arika Jensen next to her self-portrait in her bedroom. Jensen stated she was proud of the painting, with her mother Holly adding that it helped her through a dark period of her life. -
Members of the 1972-73 Hampton state champion basketball team honored last week included, from left: Brian Wall, assistant coach Jim Tonnic, coach Jerry Eickhoff, Dean Klute, Bob Kohtz, Mark Olsen and Tom Schrader. -
Jack Allen wrestles for position with GINW’s Victor Isele during their fourth match of the season Saturday in the district championship match. Allen was victorious, and has been on all four occasions this year. -
Aurora’s Drew Knust battles for an offensive board during Aurora’s 52-23 win over Kearney Catholic.
Oswald explores global side of agriculture
Aurora farmer Mitch Oswald has spent the past few months of his life on the learning journey of a lifetime, culminating in January with a two-week trip to Costa Rica, Colombia and Panama.
As one of 21 Nebraska LEAD fellows, Oswald spent Jan. 5-18 visiting a handful of unique places, showcasing agriculture on a global scale.
Up first on the groups’ itinerary was a visit to CATIE (Centro Agronomico Tropical de Investigacion y Ensenanza) near Turrialba, Costa Rica.
“It’s a center for tropical-type ag and education,” Oswald noted. “We participated in a few sit-down meetings with different people. They have a huge botanical garden and we learned how their operation is set up.”
‘Emerging’ Arika Jensen makes a start in art
Near the western edges of Aurora, an emerging 20-year-old artist is well on her way to making a career for herself.
Arika Jensen, when she isn’t caring for the llamas on her family’s ranch, has talent making digital art, drips, jewelry, resin-covered wine glasses and other kinds of crafts.
“She has a lot of different facets,” mother Holly Jensen said.
Arika’s first artistic experiences came from two places: going to art camp at a gallery located in what is now the Ivy and drawing on her grandfather’s butcher paper with her brother Jonah.
“My first one is my brother and I at my grandparents’ (place), they had this big giant sheet of paper and we did county fair art,” Arika remembered. “So I drew the sheep and he did the chickens.”
First Hawk championship team honored 50 years later
Hawk Nation celebrated a prized piece of its sports history last week, recognizing members of the 1972-73 state championship basketball team 50 years after they won the school’s first basketball title.
Coach Jerry Eickhoff, assistant coach Jim Connick and five of the team members were introduced before the start of the boys game versus Dorchester, with some reflecting afterwards on that memorable title run.
“These kids, they worked hard,” Eickhoff said, noting that he was a young man himself at the time, at age 26. “They came together as a unit and had good chemistry.”
Allen surges forward for district title
The big man did it again.
There was no heartbreak this year at districts for Jack Allen, who ran through a tough heavyweight bracket to win a district championship and highlight four state qualifiers for the Huskies in this weekend’s B-3 district meet at GINW.
Allen will be joined at the state championships by Karsten Hohm, Britton Kemling and Kellen Peterson. Allen, Hohm and Kemling are each making their second appearance at state while it will be Peterson’s first trip.
Aurora coach Derek Keasling explained that while the Huskies are only taking four, he expects those four to all be in medal contention.
Huskies catch fire against top talent
After a stretch of offensive struggles, the Huskies came up clutch in a big way, including a huge road win.
Aurora picked up three wins last week, defeating Kearney Catholic 52-23 Feb. 7 before a huge upset win at Crete Thursday, 53-45 and another home win Saturday over Omaha Concordia, 49-35.
After Aurora’s win over Kearney Catholic, coach Kevin Asher commented there’s nothing better for a team late in the year than to find new confidence. That certainly carried through the rest of the week.
“There’s nothing better this time of year than to see the ball go through the net,” Asher said of the team’s confidence. “Our kids were good on both ends tonight.”
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