Orchard Graduate Ronita Jacobsen Named Teacher Of Year

An Orchard High School graduate was recently recognized with a teacher of the year award.

ACTEN (Association for Career and Technical Education of Nebraska) named Ronita Jacobsen as the Outstanding Career and Technical Education Teacher of the Year and the ACTEN Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher of the Year at the annual Nebraska Career Education Conference held in Kearney.   

The daughter of Ron and Earla Carlson, Jacobsen graduated from Orchard High School in 1990 and attended Wayne State College where she received a bachelor’s (1994) and master’s degree (1998) in family and consumer sciences education.  

She began her FCS teaching career at Ponca High School in 1994, then returned to the Plainview area where she taught at Pierce High School from 1997-1999. 

Jacobsen began teaching in Plainview in the fall of 1999 and still teaches there today. 

Jacobsen and her husband, Shane, live in the rural Plainview area and have three children — Chance, 16; Logan 11; and Shayla, 9. 

She has been a member of FCSTN, ACTEN, ACTE, and NATFACS since she began her teaching career in 1994. 

During the awards presentation, it was stated that Jacobsen strives to make Career and Technical Education top notch at Plainview Public Schools and displays a high degree of integrity, responsibility and ambition. 
She has transformed a traditional home economics curriculum into a vital Family and Consumer Sciences program with an FCCLA program that is integral in the entire Plainview community.  

Jacobsen was said to be a fixture that is involved in improving education for all students and is a team player who displays a positive attitude, is open to change and is willing to share ideas with others to make education better.