Neligh's Jacobsen Wins National Championship At SkillsUSA

Luke Jacobsen of Neligh earned national championship honors in Broadcast News Production on Friday at National SkillsUSA in Louisville, Kentucky.

Jacobsen, a 2017 graduate of Neligh-Oakdale, was part of the Northeast team of Henry Hagge, Dustyn Stortzum and Kaylee Dankert. Jacobsen is the son of Dave and Traci Jacobsen of Neligh. 

Jacobsen knew heading into the awards that his team was among the top three, but he admitted that he was nervous as the teams were read.

“At one point, second place pulled up and we weren’t there. Right when it happened, I was think we didn’t place,” Jacobsen said with a laugh.

Not only did they place — they won the national championship.

Jacobsen, who was the only freshman from Northeast, joined the team as a replacement when one of the recent graduates moved to another state. Jacobsen stepped up and became a huge asset to the team.

For the competition, the teams met on Tuesday to go over rules, dress code and expectations. For the event on Wednesday, Jacobsen said the teams were given 20 Associated Press stories and had to sync them down to just a three-minute news cast with five stories.

They then rewrote the stories, used the teleprompter and recorded the newscast live in front of the judges, who then critiqued the students.

“Right away the judges said they liked the way we worked as a team. I didn’t know how we did for sure, but I felt pretty good about it,” Jacobsen said.

As a freshman, Jacobsen worked two live shifts per week with the college station and recorded a voice track for the weekend shift. He also worked on a news or sports show weekly besides working other games and events.

Jacobsen is spending the summer as the voice of the Nebraska Lawdawgs and is calling several Legion baseball games as well. ​