Dorchester Times: Dorchester Native Dan Stehlik Named Top Educator In Post-Secondary Ag Tech

Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Dorchester Native Dan Stehlik Named Top Educator In Post-Secondary Ag Tech

We've reported on the accomplishments of Dorchester native and DHS alumnus Dan Stehlik before.

For the past few years, Stehlik has played a key role in educating young people at the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis, Neb., where technical agricultural skills are taught. At NCTA, Stehlik is a senior agricultural mechanics instructor, which includes welding, electricity, irrigation technology, farm machinery maintenance, and small engines courses. Prior to his time in Curtis, he taught ag education for 19 years in Kansas high schools.

Now Stehlik has been named a top educator in post-secondary education for his expertise in the classroom and laboratory at Curtis, according to NU.

The Nebraska Agricultural Education Association recognized Stehlik for NCTA’s outstanding post-secondary program.

According to the NCTA, "Dan has done an amazing job building our agriculture mechanics program, which includes welding, irrigation technology, small engines and agriculture safety courses. He knows NCTA quite well, having graduated in 1975 with an associate degree in production agriculture. Dan farmed for a few years at his hometown near Dorchester, then returned to a college campus to become an agriculture teacher. In 1986, he received a bachelor’s degree in dual programs of agriculture education and general agriculture."

NCTA will celebrate Dan’s award when he officially receives the plaque and banner which accompanies the annual award.

The Times congratulates Dan on this award. We encourage any young people in Dorchester who want to pursue a career in technical agriculture to connect with this fellow Longhorn.

2 comments:

AnonymousAugust 6, 2020 at 11:20 AM
You should do one of these articles on Jon Cerny.
His accomplishments warrant it.
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UnknownAugust 7, 2020 at 6:54 AM
I've been gone from Nebraska since 1951 but it is great to hear about my second cousin in Dorchester.
Dan's father was a good friend of mine! Congratulations to you Dan!
Norm Vlcek
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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."