NRHEG Star Eagle

137 Years Serving the New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva Area
Newspaper of Record for NRHEG School District
Newspaper of Record for Waseca County, MN
PO Box 248 • New Richland, MN 56072

507-463-8112
email: steagle@hickorytech.net
Published every Thursday
Yearly Subscription: Waseca, Steele, and Freeborn counties: $52
Minnesota $57 • Out of state $64

By JONAH STAFFORD

Staff Writer

Lise Weegman, NRHEG Secondary’s business teacher for the past six years, did not have an easy time deciding to submit her retirement this spring. One of the greatest joys of being a teacher, she observes, is the opportunity to introduce students to concepts and practices “that they knew very little about, and possibly had never even thought of before.”

Teaching students varying from middle schoolers to seniors and covering subject matter from basic communication and interaction to an introduction to the business world with such classes as Computers, Business, Hospitality and Tourism, Money Management, and Fundamentals of Accounting, Weegman has provided hundreds of students with a broadened understanding and built rich interpersonal relationships.

Nancy Jane’s Bakery owner survives heart attack

 

By DEB BENTLY

Staff Writer

 

For Nancy Jane Klecker, it was the stuff of nightmares. “His eyes rolled back in his head and he sort of fell back. I leaped out of my chair and ran out into the hallway screaming.

“The doctors say I probably saved his life by reacting so quickly.”

Fortunately, “the hallway” was in a hospital where Harry, 57, and Nancy Jane’s husband of 31 years, had just learned that there was dangerous blockage in a number of blood vessels connected to his heart, and that he should be scheduled for open heart surgery in the near future.

The news was a complete surprise to him. “I never had any symptoms that seemed dangerous,” he observes. “I had some shortness of breath now and then, but that was all.”

The Kleckers own Nancy Jane’s Bakery in New Richland and are its only employees. From the time the blockages were discovered on March 30 and the surgery was scheduled, their business had to be closed–a sudden turn of events that took area residents by surprise. The shop remained closed through April and halfway through May, opening again when the two felt ready to handle their rigorous work schedule again.

Domeier one of three valedictorians

By JONAH STAFFORD

Staff Writer

Anton Domeier

Anton Domeier, the son of Mark and Michelle Domeier of Ellendale, graduates as one of this year’s valedictorians. Domeier played the trumpet in NRHEG’s concert, jazz, honor and marching bands. He also served as a drum major for the marching band his junior and senior years. Domeier acted in NRHEG’s one act plays, the Spring play, and was a member of the school drama club. He competed on the track and field, baseball, basketball, and knowledge bowl teams and was also involved in the yearbook committee, student council, and National Honor Society.

By DEB BENTLY

Staff Writer

“We are meant to fail, learn, and then succeed,” suggested Tatum Smith Vulcan, one of three class speakers at NRHEG’s graduation ceremony held Sunday, June 4.

The Class of 2023 included 68 graduates, 36 of whom had grade point averages (GPAs) above 3.0. Three valedictorians were honored: Anton Domeier, Bree Ihrke, and Eva Wayne, all three for having earned perfect 4.0 GPAs. Two salutatorians, Erin Jacobson and Sidney Schultz, were announced.

By DEB BENTLY

Staff Writer

About 75 people gathered in the NRHEG secondary gym the morning of Monday, May 29 to take part in a Memorial Day ceremony sponsored by the New Richland American Legion.

Speaker Kelly Delacruz told the crowd that history is peppered with “days that will never be forgotten” for their tragedy and their impact. Even remembering such days, she said, “seems to suck the oxygen out of our chests.”

She shared her experience of being newly enlisted in the military during 9-11 22 years ago and remembered the loss of a childhood friend who, having enlisted at about the same time she did, was later killed in an explosion in Iraq.

“Today I remember Ssgt Jacob Thompson,” she said. “With a heavy heart I thank him and all others for their sacrifice. They are not forgotten.”

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