2021 Rural Fellows—Superior

Jeanne Itetere & Kendra Vaughn Author

08/13/2021 Added

46 Plays

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Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Superior, Nebraska during Summer 2021.

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[00:00:00.156](upbeat music)
[00:00:03.190]Having the opportunity to work and engage
[00:00:05.900]with local residents has been a valuable learning experience
[00:00:09.320]over the past several weeks.
[00:00:11.640]It has been our privilege
[00:00:12.890]to interview different knowledgeable Superior residents
[00:00:16.010]who have given us a great deal of information
[00:00:18.350]about this town's history from its founding to the present.
[00:00:22.590]As part of the research process and conducting interviews,
[00:00:26.250]we made several trips to the museum and worked closely
[00:00:29.300]with the Economic Development Team,
[00:00:31.260]which were extremely helpful in directing us to
[00:00:33.890]the materials we needed to carry out the design project.
[00:00:38.210]I had a sense of belonging and warmth from
[00:00:40.560]the moment I moved to Superior.
[00:00:42.790]It comforted me that I could anytime rely on
[00:00:45.951]the community for kindness and support.
[00:00:49.100]Because I felt included and supported,
[00:00:51.600]I never felt like I cannot share my ideas.
[00:00:55.150]A safe work environment and a deep connection to
[00:00:57.760]the community afforded me a great deal of opportunity
[00:01:00.940]as I strive toward becoming a solid leader
[00:01:04.160]with community inclusion.
[00:01:06.150]The project we worked on through our internship
[00:01:08.350]was creating videos about the history of the town.
[00:01:11.340]This involved meeting people, making phone calls,
[00:01:13.660]recording interviews, writing scripts,
[00:01:15.410]and putting everything together into videos.
[00:01:18.100]Superior has such a rich history, it's been impossible
[00:01:20.930]to get all of that information into a few short videos.
[00:01:24.520]We split them into categories as best we could,
[00:01:26.900]even then there's so much information that people could
[00:01:29.540]learn from, just the personal experiences of the people we
[00:01:32.320]interviewed has taken days to sort through, to write down.
[00:01:35.870]It has been amazing.
[00:01:36.830]The things we've learned and how passionate
[00:01:38.570]the community is about their hometown.
[00:01:41.080]I've never had an experience quite like this before.
[00:01:43.630]I have met so many wonderful people.
[00:01:45.440]It has been so cool to see what goes into
[00:01:47.400]working in a small town.
[00:01:49.360]I have developed my communication skills,
[00:01:51.560]especially when it comes to making phone calls.
[00:01:53.770]I may have gotten better at it,
[00:01:55.100]but I wouldn't say that I've grown to enjoy it.
[00:01:57.850]Towards the start of the internship,
[00:01:59.340]it was really draining to work a straight eight-to-five.
[00:02:01.920]I had only ever worked part-time so being so involved in
[00:02:05.010]the community and working long hours was something
[00:02:07.270]I had never had experience with.
[00:02:09.670]I picked up quite a few technological skills as well.
[00:02:12.490]We have worked with WordPress and HD Movie Maker Pro.
[00:02:15.120]I had some prior experience with programming,
[00:02:18.270]but being able to use and understand these types of programs
[00:02:21.250]can come in handy when learning different programs.
[00:02:24.130]Sometimes working in teams can be complicated,
[00:02:26.650]but the people I've worked with here in Superior
[00:02:28.660]have just been wonderful.
[00:02:30.531]I'm Mary Scroggins, the Economic Development Director
[00:02:33.210]for Superior, Nebraska, and a leader in
[00:02:35.930]the Rural Fellows community of Superior.
[00:02:38.930]Being a part of the Rural Fellows is
[00:02:40.720]a spontaneous act for us.
[00:02:43.020]We were contacted by
[00:02:44.240]the South Central Economic Development District,
[00:02:46.830]known as SCEDD.
[00:02:48.210]They believed that applying to Rural Fellows
[00:02:50.200]would be beneficial for us and that the odds were good
[00:02:53.570]that we would receive two student interns
[00:02:55.770]for a summer work project.
[00:02:58.090]The seven members of
[00:02:59.430]the Economic Development Review Committee,
[00:03:01.307]the EDRC, brainstormed, and it was agreed that
[00:03:04.750]a history of the community, one that could be accessed
[00:03:07.780]on the city website would be a wonderful project.
[00:03:11.300]I presented the case to the city council.
[00:03:14.200]They gave permission to apply and they allocated
[00:03:16.640]the funding we required.
[00:03:18.980]Whereas many communities take months to plan,
[00:03:21.140]we took a couple of weeks in between our usual tasks.
[00:03:24.200]I don't recommend our approach.
[00:03:26.370]We didn't fully comprehend the time commitments.
[00:03:29.460]As a result, the leadership hasn't been as effective
[00:03:31.990]as we could have been, but that being said,
[00:03:35.060]I wouldn't trade it for the world.
[00:03:37.800]Robert Hyman wrote, "A generation which ignores history
[00:03:41.060]has no past and no future."
[00:03:43.960]This project was hatched to honor the past,
[00:03:47.370]its effect on the present, and therefore,
[00:03:49.970]the future, of Superior.
[00:03:52.510]The past is full of interesting, funny, tragic,
[00:03:55.530]and poignant stories of a farming community
[00:03:58.340]that peaked in population in 1950
[00:04:00.910]with thirty two hundred and twenty seven persons.
[00:04:04.120]Now in 2021, with the population of almost 2000,
[00:04:07.984]this small city is again pushing out the boundaries
[00:04:11.490]to become a community in and up today and tomorrow.
[00:04:15.760]To move forward, we must understand our past.
[00:04:19.890]The author Michael Crighton said,
[00:04:21.757]"If you don't know history, then you don't know anything,
[00:04:25.620]you are a leaf that doesn't know its part of a tree."
[00:04:29.430]Jane and Kendra have started us on the path of researching
[00:04:32.970]and documenting the abundant history of Superior. Nebraska.
[00:04:38.000]We now have the foundation to add to and tweak the project,
[00:04:42.240]making it a living, progressing entity
[00:04:44.770]of which they gave life.
[00:04:47.290]More than that, the experience of having
[00:04:49.370]these two exceptional human beings with us
[00:04:52.240]for 11 weeks gave us greater gifts.
[00:04:54.960]One of objective viewpoints in the work, and the skills
[00:04:58.250]and enthusiasm they have brought.
[00:05:00.600]They asked questions, they listened,
[00:05:03.590]they researched in books and files and with people.
[00:05:07.120]They've dug through old photographs.
[00:05:09.290]They involved themselves in the community.
[00:05:11.910]They watched parades, they volunteered, they shopped.
[00:05:16.260]The spirits of Jane Itetere and Kendra Vaughn
[00:05:19.850]will be forever at the root of the project
[00:05:23.250]and a part of this community for a long time.
[00:05:26.720](upbeat music)

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2021 Rural Fellows—Superior

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