Masthead

Main Editors

Maxine Fickenscher

Isaac Haack

Allison Boettcher

Alizabeth McDermott

Kylie Burken

Assistant Editors

Sophia Birkestrand

Jessie Bronson

Aspyn Chapin

Darbie deFreese

Steel Marks

Jocelyn McGee

Benjamin Popple

Anika Scheele

Creative Writing Instructor

Tyler Michael Jacobs

Bios

Maxine Fickenscher (Axtell - 3rd Year SHP)

Maxine is a really cool person and very friendly towards others. She is technically the Keeper of Creative Writings Mascot, Yukon Cornellius Dumbledore, and carries him around like a king. Which he absolutely loves, obviously. Max is a talented writer and likes to wear very fashionable pieces of cloth or something in her hair, I don’t really know what they’re called. She is an amazing poet and very supportive. The rings she wears are also very unique and I’m jealous that she has more than me. Her glasses are fancy and the lenses are rimmed with gold frames that match any outfit she wears. Max’s shoes are beautiful and I’m impressed she is able to keep them so clean. She keeps her friends close, and Yukon closer. You try to steal him, you die.

Isaac Haack (Franklin - 2nd Year SHP)

Our official quotician© who often gets “quotes!” yelled at him often. Isaac loves writing about paths and is an expert on the wild Auntie Ed (a rare species). Isaac rarely takes breaks but can be found in a spinny chair by an outlet with his headphone on, typing away on his computer, or scribbling on the whiteboard like a three-year-old. If he would like your attention he’ll just stick his hands out in the air and say “guys”. He is a talented writer who can spell the word threat.

Allison Boettcher (Franklin - 2nd Year SHP)

Allison reminds me of Goldielocks but if Goldie was brave enough to live with the bears. Honestly, she probably kicked them out and moved in. The only thing that would stop her is the fur. She is like a blonde Meredith from Brave. Just sitting in a classroom with her, she is a force to be reckoned with. Her poems and stories soar. She is Aurora but if she woke herself up and saved the  prince instead. Yarn is the only fear she has.

Alizabeth McDermott (Holdrege - 2nd Year SHP)

Alizabeth McDermott (a.k.a. "any nickname except Ally") is a student at Holdrege High School. She has been in the Creative Writing class for two years at Summer Honors. She is a wonderful writer and has written many poems and short stories. Some other facts about Alizabeth are that she is in the colorguard in the Holdrege marching band and that she actually isn't afraid of the number 13. She also has a strange obsession with the duck decoy known as Gerald Duckington.

Kylie Burken (Holdrege - 2nd Year SHP)

Kylie Burken is a talented writer with an interesting infatuation with ducks. Throughout summer honors, she can be seen with a duck nestled in her hands at all times. Other than the strange duck behavior, she enjoys writing poetic material and drinking 89¢ slushies from Casey’s. As much as Kylie’s loyalty lies with creative writing, it also lies with her cats, which is the result of too much free time and living in the country. If you are unfortunate enough to have her number, she will randomly bombard you with cute pictures of her cats unrelentingly. She can also be seen drawing, whether it’s the surrounding landscape, another person, or, inevitably, her cats.

Sophia Birkestrand (Minden - 1st Year SHP)

Sophie is the sweetest most kind person on the planet. She is super funny and can lift anyone's spirits with a smile. Her jokes are top tier and talking to her will make your day. Her smile is brighter than neon yellow and her heart is kinder than Taylor Swift. If you could turn candy into a person it would be Sophie. Sophie is such a selfless person. She would help anyone, anytime even if she only knew them for one day.

Jessie Bronson (Holdrege - 1st Year SHP)

Jessie Bronson is always walking to and from class with a speaker blasting music in her bag; you can tell when she's on the way. She always expresses genuine kindness and excitement for life no matter what happens; however, she might be just a little too curious about death. With her bright personality and dark humor, she makes every class a bit more interesting and fun to be a part of.

Aspyn Chapin (Bertrand - 1st Year SHP)

“TYLER!” is what we yelled around Stuhr Museum. Pointing out coffins of babies. She has been a very good friend of mine and I love her to death. She is funny, kind, and sweet. She always tells me about her poems and they are always awesome. She also reads mine and gives me great feedback. We go to lunch together a lot and have amazing conversations about things in our life. We’ve been growing really close these past few weeks as friends and it makes me so happy that she came to Creative Writing.  Aspyn also knows how to play Rush E on the piano and say all 100 dights of pi, and I thought that was amazing. She is also very social; she will talk to anyone and everyone.  She likes shopping for bedazzled light switches and enjoys decorating her room. She is a good person to be around, and I am glad she is my friend and bestie.

Darbie deFreese (Holdrege - 1st Year SHP)

Darbie deFreese, famous poet of old, hails from the land of the Dusters, where Janitors are hit-men, who “take out the trash” if you catch my meaning. Darbie is always diligent in her work and is always open to having a good laugh. Her most esteemed works have been featured in such well known Anthologies such as Gnome Sweet Gnome. A number of her works have also been published in such acclaimed the Yukon Daily. If you wish to contact her, her phone number is as follows ***-***-****.  

Steel Marks (Franklin - 1st Year SHP)

Steel Patrick Marks is a loud, red-headed individual that will not fail in his attempts to make you laugh. Whether it is saying a not-so-great dad joke, to flat-out belly-flopping onto a singular couch cushion. Making an entire poem about why people don’t like gingers, and becoming ‘Captain Mexico’ is sure to succeed. With his humor out of the way, Steel is the best fit if you are looking for someone to steal other classes’ mascots, maybe because it is quite literally his name. There are so many words that you could use to describe Steel, but his dance moves definitely say it all. If you ever get a chance, definitely ask him about his love for Pitch Perfect or, even better, if he knows the Muffin Man because it will surely put a smile on your face.

Jocelyn McGee (Eustis-Farnam - 1st Year SHP)

Jocelyn McGee is 18 and graduated from Eustis- Farnam. This year is her first and sadly her last year with us at summer honors. She is a very talented writer who is proud of her work. She’s very good at both poetry and fictional writing. I love hearing her pieces, as well as the Language Arts teacher's voice she reads them in. She loves naps (not in class Tyler, she promised) and believes that she would be sleepy if she were one of the seven dwarfs.

Benjamin Popple (Holdrege - 1st Year SHP)

Benjamin Popple is an incoming junior who lives in Funk, Nebraska. He loves to write fiction, especially about space cowboys called “Jack-a-roos”. He is a huge fanatic of anything that has to do with computers and technology, including $30 drones won at a Colorado mall, and has even generously offered to fix someone’s PC covered in ash. Before Summer Honors, he was not a lover of poetry, but since it began, he has written some very excellent pieces. He loves to play video games with his friends such as Minecraft and Sea of Thieves, and we’re pretty sure he could live off of ginger ale and Cheez-its. Some of his other hobbies include playing “the bone”, taking strange pictures of his classmates using abstract Snapchat filters, and stealing plastic duck decoys from his friends.

Anika Scheele (Holdrege - 1st Year SHP)

The queen of second lunches, Anika’s fear of gnomes isn’t real despite what she might have you think. Her obsession with Pedro Pascal grows which she won’t deny; however, the creative writing class fears an intervention is inevitable. Anika once won first place in a Christopher Walken impression contest she entered by mistake and walked away with a blue ribbon about which she only humbly brags. After inventing time travel and then destroying her invention out of fear of it being misused, she lives a quiet, humble life in south-central, rural Nebraska.

Tyler Jacobs (Bowling Green, OH - 4th Year SHP)

Tyler Micheal Jacobs (a.k.a. Auntie Ed) is the Summer Honors Creative Writing instructor. He is a poet who has written his own book called Building Brownville and also teaches his students what the state of Ohio looks like. He has a strong passion for his coffee which is somehow always warm at all times of the day. Everyday he gives his “motivational” speech to inspire his students to be better at writing. He lives in Bowling Green, Ohio where he spends his time daydreaming about his future 1973 mercedes benz.