Students reel 'em in at annual fishing outing
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BY CINDY LANGE-KUBICK / Lincoln Journal Star
A bluegill glistens on the banks of a small lake north of downtown.
And a voice carries on Friday’s morning breeze.
“We caught one! We caught one!”
In her excitement, North Star sophomore Elizabeth Fish — her friends call her Lizzy Fishy for fun — has forgotten the code for announcing a catch at the annual Gators Gone Fishing outing.
The students with special needs were supposed to holler: “Fish! Fish!”
Those are the words that will send one of their teachers scurrying around with a camera.
But Liz’s method works just as well.
This outing began 14 years ago, when a para-educator in Shawnie Motschenbacher’s classroom at Belmont Elementary had an idea.
We should take the kids fishing.
“I was foolish enough to say, ‘That would be fun,’” Motschenbacher says.
And it was fun.
So they did it the next year, when the teacher went to Goodrich Middle School.
And they’ve done it every year since, for the past four at North Star.
Pfizer offers up its private lake.
Volunteers from the Nebraska Air National Guard buddy up with the 20 or more students who make the trip each year.
Friday, anglers spread out in groups of threes and fours around the mossy shoreline, dodging goose poop.
“Shawnie, I catch three fish,” yells Jacy Ford, in her pink ball cap and glasses.
“You did? Awesome!”
Last year, Jacy’s Guard buddy made sure she got a master angler award after she reeled in an 11-inch bluegill.
Last year, Motschenbacher wasn’t here to see it. Her oncologist only let her come briefly to see her kids.
That’s when they gave her the autographed floppy fishing hat she wears today.
“Last year I was bawling.”
This year she’s cancer-free.
And the sun is shining.
And Lizzy Fishy is cheering again.
“Get it, Alan! Get it!”
Teacher Jennifer Lyons hurries over with her camera as Alan Eckhout hauls in a bass.
“Kiss it!”
Classmates Mark Stutzman and Eugene McCombs take turns kissing it before they toss it back.
Liz laughs. Last year she didn’t catch a thing. This year, Staff Sgt. Adam Clements helped her snag not one, but two perfect fish.
“This is like the best day of my life.”
This before Mrs. Motschenbacher’s voice carries across the lake to make it even better.
“The food is here! Come and eat pizza!”
Reach Cindy Lange-Kubick at 473-7218 or clangekubick@journalstar.com.
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