It’s another new year here at Northeast High School, which obviously means another year of getting to work and keeping busy. But while we were away on our summer vacation this last year, the staff and community of Northeast have gotten busy themselves. Yes I am talking about the our brand new Rocket Statue, or The Raising of the Rocket, that is finally back, and we are beyond happy to have it again. Marking the beginning of this school year, August 2016, is the 75th anniversary of Lincoln Northeast High School, and there was no better way to celebrate than to bring our statue back.
Although, something students may not know about our school’s history and the new rocket is that back in 1990 we already had a rocket. The original rocket was “donated by the Lincoln Air Force Base in the 1960’s” but had been stolen many years later, and even to this day has not been found. The people of Lincoln have no idea where it went or who had taken it. From day one the rocket was treated very disrespectfully by many people. It was always taken but somehow found its way back to its proud owner. Even then, when we do not know who had taken it or where it had gone, it is said by many that a rival school had taken it. Jason Lemon, a graduate of Lincoln Northeast High School in 1991, pushed the effort to raise the money for a new rocket statue to be built for the school. According to Margaret Reist from the Lincoln Journal Star, the new 12-16 foot rocket, costing $55,000, was funded by selling original Northeast High School bricks, ranging from a hundred to a thousand dollars.
It took a lot of effort and a lot of time to put together and finish. But nothing is impossible when it comes to our community. It took 2 whole years of planning and design to get to where we are today. Kurt Glathar had had the dream to give Northeast something other schools had. He has been here for 12+ years and thought it was odd that “..our school didn’t have a mascot outside like others; where is OUR mascot?” He believes Northeast has a feel like no others and it deserves to be represented in the best way possible. It took a whole planning committee to put together with their set goal as $50,000 and we most definitely hit that mark. One of the big events that got us rolling was the fact that Lincoln Northeast was selected as school of the year in 2015, and we received $6,500 from this contest. Then right after that we won “The School with the Most Pride” contest that the U.S. Bank held, giving us another $5,000. Mr. Glathar said “it was very important, it was our seed money to get everything rolling.” Many others then helped complete Northeast’s rocket, including Ayars & Ayars, Inc., Dan Leosing, Rivers Metal Products, Incs., and Mike Eisenbarth. It proves more than anything that with the help of the community we can achieve amazing things.
It seems people tend to wonder how the original Rocket came about. Northeast has always been known to engage their students and make them part of the school’s history. They needed a Rocket logo, and which they took the opportunity to get the help of the students once again. According to Gene Kelly, a writer from the Lincoln Journal Star back in 1991, they “..had a competition among art students, and the Rocket sketch won out.” From that day forward we were able to be known as the Lincoln Northeast Rockets with a way to really show it. Even then we just wanted something more. We were proud of our students for their hard work and wanted to give something back. Northeast wanted more spirit, more chances to show what we’re all about, and more chances to show our love for the school. Soon enough the giant metal rocket was built outside the schools doors. It was built to look like the logo to dedicate our appreciation to not only our students, but to the school.
When we look back many many years from now, we will have something to remember. We now have a chance to look back and remember the names and the people who had our rocket pride. No matter where you’re from, there is a chance to see what Northeast is all about. Kurt Glathar, principle here at Lincoln Northeast High School says it will “Emphasize that this project was a community and group effort. It will show how we can come together to do great things.” and that he is “More than proud to be a part of this amazing accomplishment.”