The GFWC Nebraska Federation of Women’s Clubs hosted the State History Quiz Bowl in Seward at the Seward Civic Center Oct. 7.
The event is an all-day Quiz Bowl featuring questions based only on History and Geography. The GFWC hosted 54 teams of high school students from across Nebraska. This was a special USA-250 American History Quiz Bowl, with all of the questions based on American history.
The event featured a round robin competition in the morning, where each team played three rounds in a warm-up for the afternoon’s single elimination tournament. The event was divided into three levels—large, medium and small schools. The teams competed in 15-minute rounds, generating points and wins to achieve the top seed bracket for the afternoon tournament.
SHS had two teams in the tournament and Team B was runner-up. The students involved from SHS included Zeke Ferebee, Naomi Jurchen, Darien Sugden, James Weverka, Thomas Funke, Bethany Jurchen, Declan Brown, Izayah Lavicky, DeeRoy Jamison and Mason Vest with coach Melissa Pohl serving at their sponsor for the day.
The members of Team B were Ferebee, Jurchen, Sugden, Weverka and Funke.
Winners of the History Quiz Bowl included, from the area:
Small Schools: Dorchester B, fourth, Coach Sandy Severance.
Medium Schools: Exeter Milligan Friend A, third, Coach Jordan Marr.
Large Schools: Seward High B, second, Coach Melissa Pohl.
Additional area schools participating included Centennial, Milford, Wilber-Clatonia and Crete.
The volunteer readers/judges for the History Quiz Bowl were Sue Imig, Andy Jensen, Nancy Schulz and Clark Kolterman, all from Seward; Kathy Wilcox from Crete; Melissa Pohl and Kathy Castleberry of Utica; Ellie Janda from Beaver Crossing; Brandon Wright of Central City; Kathy Huggins of Papillion; Rich Arch from Platteview; and Laura Sabata from Fullerton. There were nine competition rooms at one time all day long!
The GFWC Seward Woman’s Club hosted the pizza luncheon for the coaches and judges, chaired by Ellen Chaffin. Riley Nuttleman of Seward was the Quiz Master for the event, with Clark Kolterman of Seward serving as the coordinator. Diane Uher of GFWC Clarkson Woman’s Club is the GFWC NFWC Quiz Bowl State Chair for 2026-2028, and she hosted the front-line registration table along with GFWC NFWC Co Chair Bernie Baumert of the GFWC Howells Woman’s Club. Erin Wiseman of the Seward Civic Center served as the local contact for the host facility at the event.
Many of the teams in this tournament were sponsored by their local GFWC NFWC Woman’s Club who paid the entry fee as a community service and youth program/project. Any extra profits generated from this History Quiz Bowl will be used for the GFWC NFWC projects.
For more information on the various Quiz Bowl events, contact Diane Uher in Clarkson at dluher72@gmail.com or call 402-649-5505 or call Riley Nuttleman at 402-641-6797 or email riley.nuttleman@gmail.com.
