On October 6, 2007, Tara Machmueller and Joey Donnelly welcomed Jocelyn Lenè Donnelly into the world at the Columbus Community Hospital in Columbus, Nebraska.
Jocelyn has two step-parents: Drew Machmueller and Krystal Donnelly. She is the oldest of 4 siblings: Halle Korth, age 16; Jacob Donnelly, age 11; Andi Machmueller, age 8; and Hunter Machmueller, age 6. To add to Jocelyn’s family, she has her dog Marshal, a silver lab, and the late great Cricket, a gray cat.
Jocelyn says, “R.I.P. the king.” in response to her cat's death.
Jocelyn’s grandparents are Junelle and Dave Ough from Leigh; Kathy Donnelly from Genoa; Brenda and Jeff Machmueller from Leigh; and Joyce and Curt Cooper from Central City.
To get to know her a little bit better, Jocelyn says the three best words to describe her are “self-assured, stubborn, and witty.”
Jocelyn has many favorite things. Her favorite subject in school is Culinary Arts. Her favorite movie is Surfs Up and her favorite show is Tracker. Her favorite hobbies include getting food or going on coffee runs with her friends. Her favorite song is “Missed Call” by Treaty Oak Revival. She loves coffee and her favorite sports team is the Huskers.
In high school Jocelyn’s favorite memory was during sophomore year when she brought a hover board to school for a project and let Mr. Bazata try to ride it. He ultimately ended up falling in the hallway super dramatically and she thought it was hilarious.
While that must have been embarrassing for Mr. Bazata, Jocelyn also had some embarrassing moments in high school. Jocelyn states, “I was in weight class about to do a squat with just the bar, no weight, and I must've lost my balance because I fell straight back. They caught it on the security cameras, so that was a tad embarrassing.”
Throughout Jocelyn’s high school career, she has participated in many school activities: Track for one year; Journalism for two years; Speech, Dance, and Yearbook for three years; Softball, Band, and One-Act for four years; and FCCLA for six years.
Outside of school, you can find Jocelyn working at Schwartz Farms at the Pheasant Ridge site. She also participates in St. John’s Luther League, which she has been in for 4 years.
In her junior year of high school, Jocelyn acquired her CNA certification, which is one of her proudest high school achievements.
After high school, Jocelyn plans to attend Southeast Community College and obtain a degree in paramedicine, which has been her dream since she was a young girl. She wants to try and become a paramedic in a larger city, but still live in a smaller town similar to Leigh.
If Jocelyn were to win the lottery, she would build her dream house, go on a cruise, pay off her debt, and try her best to save whatever she has left of it.
If Jocelyn were to travel anywhere in the world, she states, “I would either go to Iceland or Costa Rica. I’ve always wanted to go to Iceland because of the Northern Lights and the Blue Lagoon. If I went to Costa Rica, I’d go zip lining, explore volcanoes, and hang out on the beaches.” Maybe that could be a pit stop on her cruise! She also wishes to go bungee jumping, travel internationally, and go skydiving solo.
In 10-15 years, Jocelyn wishes to have her dream job and a fun social life, while also having a family of her own with a few pets.
Jocelyn says that her biggest pet peeves are rage baiting or people continuously asking the same questions, especially when they are obvious ones. Her biggest bad habit is turning off her alarms and falling right back to sleep.
Although Jocelyn has a lot of inspiring people in her life, she states, “I admire my aunt, Sara Weise. She’s the funniest person I know and never fails to make a room burst in laughter. She’s gone through so much hardship and continues to be the most optimistic person. I just love her.”
While we wish Jocelyn luck on her journey to college and paramedicine, she has one last piece of advice for underclassmen, “Give yourself a reason.”
This year our Patriot dance team made their way to Columbus, Nebraska, on January 31 for Columbus Public High School’s annual “Jam the Gym.” The team performed both of their state routines. First their kick “Game Time Kick” and then their hip hop “Usher Concert.”
Overall, it was a great turn out and many great teams were there, from Grand Island Central Catholic, to Columbus' very own Central Community College Raiders dance team.
Patriot Coach Mrs. Stephanie Dostal commented, “Jam the Gym in Columbus was such a great experience our dancers got to share the floor with so many talented teams and studios from around the area. I’m proud of the way we showed up and supported one another all day. This weekend gave us great momentum, and I’m so excited to keep building as we head into State Dance in just a few weeks!”.
Although it was not a competition giving them any places, this was an opportunity for the dancer to get out there and continue on with growing, getting better, and becoming more confident with their dances!
Junior Reann Bruhn stated, “We had a fun day in Columbus showcasing our dances. For having people be sick all week and some gone, we did a great job. We had some changes coming into this and we put in our hard work and it turned out well. It was also a great practice for our state competition coming up at the end of the month!”.
Good luck to the dance girls as they perform at state on Saturday, February 21st!
The 4-11 Clarkson-Leigh Patriot boys’ basketball team had two games against the 8-6 Wakefield Trojans on January 24, 2026, and against the 2-14 Wisner-Pilger Gators on January 27th, 2026.
Against the Trojans, the boys played a solid first 2 quarters of basketball. At the end of the first half, the Patriots were down three, 33-36. The boys came out slow out of the half and got down 14 at the end of the third quarter. They ultimately couldn’t come back and lost the game 47-60.
Sophomore starter, Cash Fehringer, said, “We played a solid first half and felt confident after. We came out of halftime slow and the Trojans took advantage of that and jumped out to a lead. We couldn’t get on a hot streak the entire second half to try and make a comeback. It was a tough game to lose but a very good learning experience that we need to play a full 32 minutes of basketball and not let off of the gas at all.”
In the game, the boys were led by Kyle McMullin, who scored 22 points, shooting 47% from the field. McMullin also contributed four blocks.
For the second game of the week, the Patriot boys went on the road with a 4-12 record, this time to the 2-14 Wisner-Pilger Gator’s home floor.
The Pats came out scorching, scoring 26 in the first half and having a 13-point lead going into halftime. Although the Patriots had all of the momentum going into the half, the Patriots only scored a second half total of 13 points and gave the Gators a chance to get back into the game. In the end, the Wisner-Pilger Gators couldn’t come back and the Patriots won 39-32 in a very defensive game.
In this matchup, the Patriots spread the ball out well. Tucker Mattheis was the highest scorer with 11 points, but Easton Brabec and Kyle McMullin both had 10. McMullin helped all around, having a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
“It was a rough shooting night as a team,” said McMullin. “We struggled to score because shots weren’t falling. I was glad to see that our offensive struggles didn’t carry over to the defensive end. We played the whole game with a high energy level on defense. We pride ourselves on our defense, so it was nice to see defense leading the way to a quality win. We hope to continue this intensity into the conference tournament.”
Clarkson-Leigh vs. Wakefield
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
C-L: 12 11 10 14 47
WAKE: 12 14 21 13 60
(points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks)
Kyle McMullin: 22, 9, 5, 0, 4; Quentin Mullenhoff: 4, 4, 0, 0, 0; Easton Brabec: 8, 8, 2, 1, 0; Cash Fehringer: 3, 2, 0, 0, 0; Blake Loseke: 2, 2, 2, 0, 0; Tucker Matthies: 6, 2, 1, 1, 0; Luke Eisenmann: 2, 3, 1, 1, 0
Clarkson-Leigh vs. Wisner-Pilger
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
C-L: 13 13 6 7 39
W-P: 7 6 11 8 32
(points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks)
Kyle McMullin: 10, 10, 1, 2, 2; Quentin Mullenhoff: 4, 2, 0, 0, 0; Easton Brabec: 10, 8, 3, 1, 0; Cash Fehringer: 0, 4, 0, 0, 0; Blake Loseke: 2, 6, 1, 0, 0; Cody Jedlicka: 2, 1, 0, 0, 0; Tucker Matthies: 11, 6, 1, 2, 0; Luke Eisenmann: 0, 1, 1, 1, 1
After advancing very far into the KTCH Quiz Bowl for the past several years, the Leigh Quiz Bowl team was stunned by Crofton this year with a loss in the first round.
On Friday, January 29, 2026, at 9:30 a.m. Crofton defeated Leigh 3-1, knocking them out of the 64-team tournament.
The team is coached by Maddie Gall, and the people on the team this year included Liz Hoffman, Trevor Hoffman, Luke Eisenmann, and Brayden Loseke.
Brayden Loske stated, “It was a tough match. I'm sad our team didn't get further, but we still had fun.”
Coach Maddie Gall stated, “I was excited to see the start of the Quiz Bowl season. Crofton had the luck of the draw in earning the first point. I’m looking forward to hosting the Quiz Bowl in April and attending the NECC Quiz Bowl meet as well!”
On Saturday, January 31, the Patriot wrestling squad travelled to North Bend for the East Husker Conference wrestling tournament. Riddled with injury, the team still managed to compete well overall, having three people medal. Even with only four scoring wrestlers, the team placed 7th out of 15 teams
Sophomore 175-lb wrestler Hunter Gall ended the day 2-0 getting 3rd place following an injury experienced in his 1st match. Freshman 126-lb wrestler Mason Faltys finished 3-2 on the day, earning 2nd place. Senior heavyweight Levi Gall ended the day 5-0, finishing 1st place.
Freshman Mason Faltys was happy with the day, saying, “It was a good experience, getting out there and competing.”
The remainder of the team also competed well with sophomore 138-pounder Aidan Ellsworth ending the day 4-1, finishing 5th and senior heavyweight Brett Wemhoff ended the day 2-3 placing 6th.
Wrestling coach Ryan Molacek was satisfied with the efforts of the team saying, “The boys fought hard this week. We just look to keep healing up and improving towards districts.”
126: Mason Faltys, 3-2, 2nd place
138: Aidan Ellsworth, 4-1, 5th place
175: Hunter Gall, 2-0, 3rd place
285: Brett Wemhoff, 2-3, 6th place
285: Levi Gall, 5-0, 1st place
On Monday January 26, 2026, the C-team boys and girls played against the WestPoint Beemer Cadets at Clarkson High. They both added a victory to their record. The girls won 27-21 while the boys pulled off a 1-point victory, 32-31.
Freshman Wyatt Eisenmann said, “We played great as a team and shot well, we came together at the end to get some stops to get a pivotal win for the season”.
Layton Held, also a freshman, added, “The game was great. We started off slow in the first quarter, but really picked it up for the next 3 quarters.”
Player, Averi Clausen, says, “We played really well as a team and finally got ourselves a well-deserved win.”
The boys are now currently 2-4 and the girls are currently 1-4.
The Leigh Speech Team traveled to North Bend on Saturday, January 24.
It was a very successful meet with Leigh placing 3rd overall out of 14 schools!
The speech team had many successful members. Shaylynn Marty, Kaycee Lange, Vivian Bunner, and Ariyah Ross placed 1st in Novice Oral Interpretation of Drama; Brayden Loseke placed 1st in Novice Extemporaneous and 4th in Varsity Informative; Kaycee Lange placed 2nd in Novice Poetry; Cade Hoesly placed 2nd in Humorous; Shaylynn Marty and Kaycee Lange placed 4th in Novice Duet; Trenton Olson placed 4th in Novice Informative; Sydney Messerlie placed 2nd in Varsity Serious; Lexis Gleason and Jocelyn Donnelly placed 3rd in Varsity Duet; Kaylee Brabec placed 4th in Varsity Persuasive.
“I thought the day was very long yet very successful. Everyone came home with a medal and that’s the best thing any speaker can see,” said senior Sydney Messerlie. “I love this team and I know that this is going to be a great year!”
Coach Ethan Hathaway said, “It was a great official first meet! We walked away with 3rd place as a team and we had a lot of fun giving our speeches in the cold weather.”
The red jackets were back in action on January 21, 2026 at St. Edward High School as members of the Leigh Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) chapter showcased their skills and leadership at the District STAR Event Competition.
26 students from Leigh FCCLA competed in 13 different STAR (Students Taking Action with Recognition) Events, demonstrating their dedication to developing leadership skills, career preparation, and making a positive impact on their communities.
Every single group and competitor qualified for the state competition!
Mrs. Megan Hillen, Leigh FCCLA Chapter Adviser, praised the students for their hard work and commitment: “Our students had a very successful day at the FCCLA District 5 STAR Competition. I am proud of the hard work they put into their projects, and it is rewarding to see those efforts recognized. Having all competitors qualify for the state competition is a testament to their hard work and leadership.”
Highlights from the competition include:
The state qualifiers are now preparing to compete at the Nebraska FCCLA State STAR Event Competition, which will take place on Monday, March 31, 2026, in Lincoln, NE. Their achievements at the district level have set the stage for even greater accomplishments in the months to come.
Leigh Chapter President, senior Elizabeth Hoffman, said, “I'm super happy to be part of such a great chapter in which everybody keeps qualifying for state. It was a bit chilly for an early morning drive to St. Edward—especially trying to load and haul an entire piano for my event—but we stuck it out and everybody did so well on their projects that it was totally worth it. It was a few people's first year competing and a few of us had our last district STAR ever, so I'm glad to have had the opportunity to spend time with my peers growing all sorts of skills and enacting community change along the way. Looking forward to state in March!”
The Clarkson-Leigh Patriot girls’ basketball team had a busy week with two games, starting with a strong showing against Wakefield on Saturday, Jan. 24, and finishing with a tough loss to Wisner-Pilger on Tuesday, Jan. 27.
Clarkson-Leigh started strong in an away game against Wakefield and won 69-37. The Patriots led 21-9 after the first quarter and kept scoring to hold a big lead the rest of the game.
Seniors Ava Kasik and Elizabeth Hoffman led Clarkson-Leigh, with Kasik putting together a complete game of 25 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 6 steals, including an impressive 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range, Hoffman adding a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, and junior Vylet Hollatz contributed 5 assists.
Senior Ava Kasik said, “Coming off a big win against the David City Scouts the following week, we came in confident and ready to play Wakefield. We started off with lots of energy in the press, which also fueled us to knock down shots. Overall, it was nice to get a few wins to build our confidence going into the end of the season.”
On Tuesday, the Patriots played Wisner-Pilger and lost 30-38. Clarkson-Leigh had an early lead of 11-7, but Wisner-Pilger scored more in the second and third quarters to take the lead. The Patriots tried to come back in the fourth quarter, but they couldn’t catch up.
Junior Reese Wietfeld said, “When the score wasn’t in our favor, we continued to encourage each other by staying positive and focused. We reminded ourselves to play together, trust one another, and to move on after mistakes. This mindset helps our team stay confident instead of overwhelmed by the score. We played physical and did get frustrated at times but we continued to encourage each other and try harder the next possession. We focus on doing our job and supporting each other, which helps us play better as a team!”
After these two games, Clarkson-Leigh’s record is 6-12, and the team is looking forward to their upcoming games.
Clarkson-Leigh vs. Wakefield
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
CL 21 19 16 13 69
Wake 9 8 6 14 37
Individual Stats (points, rebounds, assists, steals):
Carmen Malena: 0, 2, 0, 1; Reese Wietfeld: 2, 4, 1, 3; Ava Kasik: 25, 4, 4, 6; Claire Holoubek: 4, 3, 1, 3; Maizie Stoklasa: 10, 5, 3, 3; Averi Clausen: 2, 2, 0, 1; Emersyn Urban: 0, 1, 0, 0; Vylet Hollatz: 9, 3, 5, 0; Nevaeh Zulkoski: 4, 5, 1, 3; Chole Indra: 0, 2, 0, 0; Jordyn Balzer: 2, 0, 0, 0; Elizabeth Hoffman: 11, 11, 0, 0.
Clarkson-Leigh vs. Wisner-Pilger
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
CL 11 9 4 6 30
WP 7 12 13 6 38
Individual Stats (points, rebounds, assists, steals):
Reese Wietfeld: 5, 4, 2, 6; Ava Kasik: 8, 2, 1, 2; Claire Holoubek: 3, 5, 0, 3; Ella Baumert: 1, 0, 0, 2; Maizie Stoklasa: 4, 2, 2, 2; Vylet Hollatz: 0, 3, 0, 2; Nevaeh Zulkoski: 2, 2, 0, 0; Elizabeth Hoffman: 7, 5, 0, 0.
Braving the cold temperatures, Leigh FFA traveled to Central Community College to compete in the first round of District CDEs (Career Development Events). Taking 32 high school FFA members, 3 teams qualified for state convention in March!
The district champions for the livestock management team consisted of Carmen Malena, Reese Wietfeld, Tyce Larson, Luke Eisenmann, Briggs Klug, and Cash Fehringer. Leigh placed 1st out of 27 teams!
On the state qualifying team for floriculture, Rebecca Hastreiter, Hannah Martensen, Grace Hansen, and Reann Bruhn placed 3rd out of 34 teams, making history for Leigh FFA in the floriculture event.
In agronomy, Cody Jedlicka, Sadie Brabec, Daphne Jedlicka, and Reese Bruhn placed 5th out of 14 teams.
Junior Rebecca Hastreiter said, “We came into the events we competed in with confidence knowing our material that helped us be successful. At the end of the day, we executed our goal of qualifying to state, with every member representing our chapter well!”
“I couldn’t be more excited about our results at District CDEs—qualifying three teams for state is a huge accomplishment and speaks volumes about our chapter’s drive and teamwork,” said FFA Advisor Mrs. Alyssa Went.
State Qualifying:
Livestock Management 1: District Champions
Carmen Malena
Reese Wietfeld
Tyce Larson
Luke Eisenmann
Briggs Klug
Cash Fehringer
Floriculture 1: 3rd
Rebecca Hastreiter - 4th
Hannah Martensen - 10th
Reann Bruhn - 25th
Grace Hansen - 57th
Agronomy: 5th
Cody Jedlicka - 13th
Sadie Brabec - 16th
Daphne Jedlicka - 23rd
Reese Bruhn - 24th
Luke Wellman - 31st
Trenton Olson - 32nd
Other Events:
Agriculture Biotechnology Team: 14th
Brayden Loseke – (8th), Kyle McMullin, Sydney Messerlie, Quentin Mullenhoff
Agriculture Mechanics: 9th
Luke Eisenmann – (7th), Cody Jedlicka – (18th), Easton Brabec, Tyce Larson
Natural Resources: 11th
Cade Hoesly, Caleb Settjie, Ben Rodenburg, James Moore
Floriculture 2: 21st
Kaylee Brabec, Ava Kasik, Avery Kuester, Jurnee Mullenhoff
Livestock Management 2: 18th
Karly Wendt, Daphne Jedlicka, Avery Kuester, Blake Loseke, Wyatt Eisenmann, Layton Held
