Dorchester Times: DHS Named As One Of State's Top 15 Economics Teams

Friday, March 20, 2009

DHS Named As One Of State's Top 15 Economics Teams

Dorchester High School is home to one of the state's top 15 teams of economic students, according to a University of Nebraska press release. As a result, DHS is headed to the annual Nebraska Economics Challenge State Championship next weekend.

The annual championship "will pit high school teams from across the state in a competition to determine who has the greater knowledge of economics," according to the University news release. The top 15 teams were determined by an online qualifying round of testing.

The March 28 event will be held at the Nebraska Champions Club, 707 Stadium Drive on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event is hosted by the UNL Center for Economic Education and is sponsored by the Nebraska Council on Economic Education, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the economic literacy of Nebraska's students; the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City-Omaha Branch; the Council for Economic Education; and Goldman Sachs.

In addition to DHS, competing schools include: Ashland-Greenwood, Bellevue East, Bellevue West, Elkhorn, Fullerton, Humboldt-Table Rock-Steinauer, Lincoln Northeast, Omaha Central, Platteview, Southwest in Indianola, Spalding, Twin River and Waverly.

Two winning teams will advance to the regional competition April 27 in Houston, with the chance to go on to compete in the National Economics Challenge in New York City.

6 comments:

AnonymousMarch 20, 2009 at 12:41 PM
Wow! I'm continually impressed by the caliber of instruction at Dorchester. We really have something special here.

DHS also wins awards in state journalism and math contests all the time. Really impressive!

Nice going Longhorns and teachers.
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AnonymousMarch 20, 2009 at 2:05 PM
This is great news and timely considering the economic situation. Maybe the students can advise Goldman Sachs! We had nothing like this when I graduated in 1980. Financial literacy is desperately needed in this country. In addition to his other philanthropic efforts, I wish Warren Buffett would set up a foundation that teaches economics and entrepreneurship. His mentor’s book, “The Intelligent Investor” by Benjamin Graham should be required reading. WARNING: It’s very dry!!
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AnonymousMarch 22, 2009 at 9:11 AM
So who is on this team? Give them some kudos!
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AnonymousMarch 23, 2009 at 8:49 AM
This is great! Being young and new to Dorchester its really great to see things like this going on at the school. I wish we would have had this when I was in high school. Good luck!
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AnonymousMarch 24, 2009 at 11:34 AM
Team members include: Kelsey Wendelin, Ashton Kotas, Jared Jensen, Jake Hedden, and Jessica Hansen
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AnonymousMarch 24, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Congratulations to the economics team! I see a Wendelin is on the roster. Small world.....my paternal grandparents were close friends with the Wendelin family. By the way, this may be good prep material if you meet the Goldman Sachs executives. "Buffett's Goldman Sachs warrants regain value"
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Buffetts-Goldman-Sachs-rb-14731911.html
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."