“I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Nebraska … So help me God.”
With that oath Jan. 4, two Seward High alumnae took their seats in the Nebraska Legislature.
Jana Hughes, Class of 1989, represents District 24 and Danielle Conrad, Class of 1995, represents District 46 which is part of Lincoln.
“I joke with my colleagues – Seward is definitely well represented,” Conrad said.
Both have good memories of attending Seward High School.
“Forever a Bluejay,” Conrad said.
Conrad started her education at the center in Staplehurst. Hughes attended the center in Goehner through sixth grade, then attended St. John Lutheran School in Seward for junior high.
Conrad was a cheerleader and member of the speech team and swing choir. Teachers including Pat Brauer, Roger Harpham, Dave Neeley and Brent Jackman helped teach her skills she’s using today.
“They were a positive influence with my love for government, policy and public service,” she said. “They helped me harness the skills requisite for office.”
Hughes said her favorite activity was swing choir, which was open to students in grades 10 through 12. She sang in swing choir all three years.
She was also in the flag corps in the band and performed in the one act. She had Harpham for speech class, although she didn’t participate on the speech team.
“At a school our size, you have a lot of chances to do presentations and work in groups,” Hughes said.
Hughes said her time in 4-H was also important. She was part of the Goehner Lads and Lassies and then the Goehner Guys and Gals. She was also a member of the Beaver Crossing Livestock where she showed dairy cattle.
Conrad said she’d put her Seward education up against anyone in the world.
“They’re an incredible set of educators, everything public education is supposed to do,” she said. “It’s an effective and wonderful tradition.”
Hughes said SHS prepared her for college with classes like calculus with Helen Banzhaf.
“I was prepared very well,” she said.
Hughes attended college at Texas A&M where she studied engineering. She retook Calculus I and was able to pass on the first go-round, unlike some of her college classmates.
Classes like English, government, social studies and more helped foster Conrad’s love of politics and government service.
She earned a degree in political science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and then her juris doctor from UNL. She was first elected to the Legislature in 2006 and served for eight years. Then she had to go through “constitutional retirement,” a.k.a. term limits, she said.
She spent eight years as the director of the American Civil Liberties Union - Nebraska, still participating in public work focused on civil rights and civil liberties.
Conrad was elected again in 2022.
“I’m honored to be elected a third time,” she said. “I think I’m the first woman to come back” after being term limited out.
She chose to run again because she saw how term limits are impacting the legislature. She felt that with her previous experience she could do more.
“I felt a calling to re-enter political life,” she said. “I want to use my experience to be a strong advocate for issues.”
Hughes is excited to represent District 24.
“I feel I have a good handle on the people and industry. That helps,” she said.
Jobs like detasseling, making tail pipes at Walker (now Tenneco) and work at an engineering consulting firm also helped prepare Hughes for her position in the legislature.
At the consulting firm, Hughes said, her company would learn a business’s processes to help make them more efficient, working with the people and the industry to make changes.
Conrad said her parents also fostered her interest in service. Her mother, Stephanie Nantkes, was a teacher, and her father, Dan Nantkes, was a Seward County deputy sheriff.
“They are a big part of shaping who I am and where I am,” Conrad said.
She first got interested in politics in 1986 when Helen Boosalis and Kay Orr were running for governor. The race was the first in the country for a major office between two women.
“I was in elementary school,” Conrad said. “I watched an interview and it was a lightning bolt moment.”
She went to Boosalis’s office in Lincoln and started campaigning for the Democratic candidate. She talked to her neighbors, most of whom were Republicans, but said they were kind to her.
She later ran into Boosalis in a store in Lincoln.
“My mom said I was speechless for the first and last time,” Conrad said, laughing.
Boosalis visited the Staplehurst center, and Conrad said they stayed pen pals for the rest of Boosalis’s life.
“She became a friend and mentor,” Conrad said. “She was with me when I kicked off my first campaign.”
After the 1986 gubernatorial campaign, Conrad started volunteering for other campaigns.
Conrad has been assigned to the education and government/military/veterans affairs committees, neither of which she had served on before.
“I’ve seen through my parents’ experience how issues impact real people’s lives that are frequently missed in discussion,” she said.
Hughes has been assigned to agriculture, general affairs and natural resources.
“That is District 24,” she said.
Conrad said putting partisanship aside is important for working in the legislature. As she campaigned this year in north Lincoln, she said, “No one asked for more partisanship.”
She represents one of the most diverse urban districts in the state.
Hughes said high school students interested in public service should get involved in extracurricular activities to help learn skills they can use.
Everyone takes speech, she said, but she recommended joining SkillsUSA, Future Business Leaders of America, Family, Career and Community Leaders of America or FFA.
“It gets you into leadership positions. You learn to run meetings and speak publicly,” Hughes said.
