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jo ephine langbehn teache , paint , and dance through hi tory

Apopular quote by Albert Einstein poses that a cluttered workspace equals a creative, genius mind. But Josephine Langbehn’s workspace is neat; a third of a studio space inside Hot Shops Art Center, a simple, subdued white wall highlighting a small supply cart topped with acrylic paint, brushes, and a small bag of almonds. A few paintings line the side of the room like beautiful, blown-up versions of the old photographs grandmas keep in boxes in their attics.

photography by Bill Sitzmann de ign by Matt Wieczorek

Langbehn’ full—of ork pace i n’t cluttered, but meaning, tory, and intention. it i

Her work echoes that style. Langbehn paints people in grayscale against stark white backgrounds. She is inspired by old photographs and the stories they contain within their grainy interiors.

“When I was little, I was always asking my mom to bring out photographs, really old ones from the early 1900s, 1920s, ’50s, you name it,” Langbehn said. “I loved them. The grayscales, the aesthetic of an old photograph, the white frame that goes around them. Even the thickness of the paper, I always thought was really cool—that vintage quality has always stuck with me.”

While the curious, collective quality of old photographs drew Langbehn in, the stories of the people in the images kept her imagination on a hamster wheel, and she began churning out immacu- late, realistic grayscale portraits.

Some have faces, others are odes to family members (a piece depicting three generations of women in her family adorns the wall as one of the sole hangings in her workspace), and all of them add a dimension to the similar pieces of film that exist in almost every American household.

“There is so much we can learn from others,” Langbehn said. “I took time to dig through family trees and gave a dialogue to those stories.”

Langbehn is a natural documentarian (she was a yearbook editor during her time at Benson High School), aching to learn more, to share more, and to expand her understanding of the human experience. Entering her 13th year of art education, she has taken her perspective to an array of middle and elementary school classrooms in Omaha Public Schools—and now Gretna Public Schools.

“At first, my own artwork went on the back burner because I was so busy with lesson planning and relationship building in the classroom,” she said. “But it all connects.”

Langbehn has used her professional experi- ences to bring a more honest approach to the classroom, encouraging her students to write artist statements about their work, be able to discuss art, and come up with original ideas.

“Middle schoolers are at such a special place of self-discovery, and the little kids are so excited to explore without judgement,” Langbehn said. “It just shows that art is self-expression, and you can have multiple answers that are all great answers. Nothing needs to look the same.”

Langbehn’s coworker John Balcer, a Palisades Elementary music teacher, said he works alongside Langbehn to collaborate on art and music curriculum for students.

“Her immersion in the Omaha art scene has had a keen impact on our students and influences how she teaches in her classroom,” Balcer said. “Josie works hard to help students realize that art is a pow- erful, living craft which carries so many far-reaching positives for all of us. I think Josie does a terrific job in teaching students that art is all around us, being made by all kinds of people just like the students in her classroom.”

Along with her in-school pursuits to bring art to life, Langbehn works hard to develop arts education with the Nebraska Art Teachers Association, which she has been a part of for nearly a decade. She finished her co-presidency with the organization in July this year and is on the board as a co-past president until July 2022.

“This is a nonprofit that is advancing the importance of arts education in schools and how it increases the human potential,” Langbehn said. “Just being around other teachers who care to push for the best arts education is so rewarding. It’s an amazing community.”

When Langbehn has a moment away from painting or teaching a future crop of artists, she is moved by another form of art: Lindy Hop. Langbehn and her husband, Brian, teach swing dance classes together at Omaha Jitterbugs and have traveled nationally and globally in Lindy Hop competitions.

“I’m super introverted, and Lindy Hop has always been there for me when I needed it most,” Langbehn said. “It’s a level of self-expression, of being who you are, and all these people who swing dance, we can come together with this shared language.”

While swing dancing has been an ongoing hobby of hers for about 20 years, she has been working on a piece to give back to that specific community. Langbehn has interviewed dancers of the Savoy, a ballroom with great signifi- cance in the founding of the dance, as it was one of the first integrated ballrooms in Harlem and normalized the Lindy’s roots as an African street dance.

“Lindy Hop is a Black dance and understanding why the dance exists and making sure it is honored is really important to me,” Langbehn said. “It’s more than just this fun, happy dance. There’s a whole lot more to it. I want to take the time to really know that, to listen, to reflect on all of that through my art.”

While telling the stories of others is at the crux of Langbehn’s work as an artist and teacher, she finds her groove in the action of creation.

“There’s some stuff I don’t teach because art isn’t just about people who are in museums,” Langbehn said. “Art is alive. It’s real. People create it every day. My classroom isn’t just ‘We’re going to recreate “[The] Starry Night”’ because that’s not what it’s about. It’s about using your own voice and empowering children to use their own voice. Art teaches us about compassion and understanding others. We can’t live without that.”

Visit josephinelangbehn.com for more information.

“It ju t ho that art i elf-expre ion, and you can ha e multiple an er that are all great an er . Nothing need to look the ame.” -Jo ephine Langbehn

[ K A T E N O U H A N H A D T H E P E R F E C T S U M M E R P L A N N E D T O W R A P U P HER JUNIOR YEAR OF COLLEGE. [ Nouhan arranged an internship with the Television Academy Foundation—the organization that presents the Emmy Awards—where the Creighton University marketing student would have the opportunity to shadow professionals working in a Los Angeles casting office as actors audition for projects.

Those who have not been hiding in the wilderness since early March should know where this story is going. “I’ve been trying to go out to LA to do an internship there since I was a freshman,” Nouhan said. “It’s really competitive to find something paid so you’re not working for free out there. Obviously, I was crushed when I found out it was canceled.”

The foundation instead offered a summer fellows program that included virtual one-on-one visits with TV industry professionals, professional development sessions, and remote networking opportunities—but not the hands-on experience of the traditional internship.

“There’s still some great stuff happening,” Nouhan said.

REMOTE INTERNSHIPS OFFER OPPORTUNIT Y TO SHINE INDIVIDUALLY

She also found a second internship working remotely at Marketing Mission, a marketing agency based in Phoenix that offers discounted and free services to nonprofit organizations. The agency recruited nationally for the opening, and Nouhan connected with the organization through a posting with Creighton’s career center.

“It is really cool that I get to work at an organization that directly helps people who are hurting due to COVID,” Nouhan said.

Many students found themselves in a similar position to Nouhan this past summer, as they saw their plans evaporate once companies and organizations began sending workers home when the pandemic hit the United States. Some of those internships and summer jobs shifted to being conducted remotely, while others were postponed or outright canceled.

[ T he National Association of Colleges and Employers found in May that more than one-fifth of employers nationally revoked offers to summer interns, and about half moved their internships to a virtual environment. About 41% shortened [ their internships, according to the association.

“With the uncertainty that continues to surround the economy and the job market during this pandemic, employers are cutting budgets, which may result in internship programs being scaled back or temporarily suspended,” Shawn VanDerziel, NACE’s but it is also going to make the job market

executive director, said. “Fortunately, the more common response we are seeing is that many employers are moving their summer internship program to the virtual space or reducing the length of internships by delaying their start date.”

Jeremy Fisher, director of John P. Fahey Career Center at Creighton University, said he believes Omaha interns fared better than others. Many companies adapted to a new reality as the coronavirus blew up on the coasts before cases began swelling in Nebraska.

Nevertheless, there are fewer internship opportunities in Omaha now than before the pandemic, Fisher said. Postings for job and internship openings were down about half at the end of the summer for the fall, and some employers were waiting to see what health guidelines and economic conditions were in place before committing to be conducted remotely. Some work has to

bringing on new people.

Fortunately, recent graduates were largely able to find jobs. Fisher said normally about 70% of Creighton alumni report having confirmed plans at graduation. This College student who spent her summer tend

year, it was 66%.

“That, to me, was way better than we were anticipating with a pandemic,” Fisher said. “It is taking longer, though, for students to find jobs, because many companies did go on hiring freezes or they furloughed bit financially. They’re not hiring as actively or as much as they typically would.”

Fisher said a lot of jobs were lost in the service and retail sectors, which hurt Creighton and other college students looking for part-time jobs to supplement their incomes. The university prioritized helping juniors and seniors find those all-important internships this summer, and Fisher said a lot of younger students struggled to land any internship.

“The weird silver lining of this whole situa- tion is that it’s actually forcing employers to focus more on virtual recruiting, vir- tual interviewing, and virtual experiences,” Fisher said. “Making things more virtual is going to provide more access to opportunity, more competitive.”

Fisher said virtual internships have largely been worthwhile, and they cut out some of the coffee running, photocopying, and other menial tasks sometimes assigned to interns.

“Students are still gaining valuable learn- ing experiences,” Fisher said. “If anything, they’re probably getting just as good or even better higher-level experiences just because they’re not in person to do the little administrative stuff that typically an internship would come with.”

Of course, not every internship is able to be done in person, whether that’s making deliveries, providing direct services, or har- vesting mushrooms.

Claire Gillespie is a Metropolitan Community employees—they’re trying to wait it out a

ing to mushrooms at Flavor Country Farm in Honey Creek, Iowa. She learned how to cut mushrooms off a block and how to grow them on substrate. She also learned about greenhouse production.

Flavor Country sells directly to consumers at farmers markets, Wenninghoff Farm’s retail market, a roadside farm stand, and a subscription box. It also sells mushrooms, microgreens, and other produce to restaurants, but that side of the business has taken a hit during the pandemic. Gillespie said her experience hasn’t changed much as a result of the coronavirus. She has, however, learned important lessons working for her boss as he figures out how to navigate keeping his small operation afloat while many farmers have debated whether to even plant vegetables this year amid all the uncertainty sur- rounding getting them to market.

“I definitely know not to put your eggs all in one basket,” Gillespie said. “If he was just doing one thing, he would have been in a lot of trouble or set back quite a bit. I think it’s good to have a variety.”

Gillespie studies horticulture at MCC, which she said provides mostly theoreti- cal knowledge of how to care for plants. The hands-on experience she gets with her internship is crucial, as she hopes to assist others in getting their operations off the ground after she graduates.

“I really like to travel, so in some sort of way I’d like to coordinate traveling with helping people starting their own small farms or small gardens,” she said. “I am very thankful that I’m still working and especially working at a job that I love. I feel very grateful for that.”

While agriculture faces its own challenges, the pandemic has put a spotlight on the importance of local producers to the area’s food chain.

“It does show that people maybe need to buy more locally and [buy] more fresh things, especially since we do live in a farm state,” Gillespie said.

Valmont Industries, a global leader in infrastructure products and irrigation systems based in Omaha, has demonstrated the importance of adaptability in the face of the coronavirus. The company has about 45 summer interns spread across engineering, manufacturing, technology, and business support. At the onset of the pandemic, it shifted those interns to a virtual environment, providing the same tools that it gave to its permanent employees.

F O R T U N AT E LY , R E C E N T G R A D U AT E S W E R E L A R G E LY A B L E T O F I N D J O B S . F I S H E R S A I D N O R M A L LY A B O U T 7 0 % O F C R E I G H T O N A L U M N I R E P O R T H AV I N G C O N F I R M E D PL ANS AT GRADUATION. THIS YEAR, IT WAS 66%.

Many activities were conducted virtually, while striving to preserve the company’s culture, said Pat Groves, Valmont’s senior director of talent management.

“We have learned that we are still able to connect effectively with our partner cam- puses and students in a virtual environment and that our intern [population], much like the rest of our administrative employee population, is highly adaptable and has been able to continue working effectively and delivering results for our customers,” Groves said.

Internships are an important pathway to find future employees, and that’s even more true when a pandemic erects barriers to recruiting. Valmont, for example, retains more than three-fourths of its interns in some capacity after their programs conclude.

“While the pandemic has changed some of the mechanics of our intern experience, the program itself remains just as valuable,” Groves said.

Jorden Hansen has been a global marketing intern at Valmont for the past year and a half. She said the internship provides an opportu- nity to own her projects from start to finish.

“I am extremely happy with my internship experience,” Hansen said. “I have gained tremendous exposure to marketing and project management at Valmont. I am very impressed with the caliber of work that I was assigned.”

Hansen said the past several months have improved her adaptability and critical thinking skills. Those skills are just as important for employers, who can find opportunities to grow their bottom lines while less agile competitors struggle.

The Berry Law Firm saw an opportunity to show leadership when the pandemic hit. Many major law firms began postponing or canceling clerkships. The Lincoln-based firm instead opted to invest more in its clerk program, adding nine additional law clerks to its team this summer, many of whom had lost other opportunities to the pandemic. Those clerks worked remotely for part of the summer before returning to the office for the conclusion of their full clerkship experience—complete with social distancing and other safety protocols, according to the law firm. Meanwhile, the firm has continued to hire and grow its business in Lincoln and Omaha.

“You go on defense only long enough to go back on offense,” managing partner and CEO John S. Berry Jr. said.

Abbie Morlock, a second-year law student at the University of Nebraska College of Law, said that working from home provided a chance to develop stronger communication skills while developing the same legal skills available from a traditional summer clerkship.

“I was able to work as if there was no COVID19,” Morlock said.

Haley Herzberg found the shift to remote work afforded more opportunity than a tradi- tional internship had offered at Metropolitan Community College, where she works on the school’s literary magazine, The Metropolitan.

Herzberg, a senior studying English and cre- ative writing at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, started the final edits on the magazine last spring. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she shifted her focus to the website for the next edition of the magazine and began meeting with her internship coordinator weekly via Zoom.

At first, she was intimidated by the idea of working remotely, but it turned out to be a lot easier than she expected.

“While I miss meeting people in person, and I would much prefer it, I don’t feel like I’m missing out,” Herzberg said. “I don’t feel like my experience is any less because I’m meeting online. If anything, it feels like I have a lot more independence.”

Herzberg said she hopes that remote internships are here to stay, even once the pandemic has subsided, because they allow for greater flexibility and provide important lessons on how to manage time and prioritize tasks. “If opportunities were to shift in favor of online internships, online meetings, that would definitely be something I would continue to be interested in,” Herzberg said. “Some people who previously had an aversion to online meetings are going to change their minds or the people who are in favor of them will have a lot louder voices.”

Nouhan said that despite losing her in-person Hollywood experience, she wouldn’t have this summer go any other way.

“I have grown a lot as a person during this pandemic,” she said. “I don’t think I would trade that for the experience of having the internship and not going through this.”

Beyond the two internships, Nouhan said she’s also spent a lot of time networking virtu- ally with Creighton alumni this summer. She plans to move to California after graduation to do marketing communications in either the technology or entertainment industries, and she has built her network by reaching out on LinkedIn and asking to talk on the phone.

Her self-determination paid dividends, and she was able to learn new skills and make a lot of connections despite the more informal environment of working from home.

“In general, you don’t need a formal internship to be able to grow a lot,” Nouhan said. “For any small businesses considering taking on remote interns, it doesn’t need to be anything fancy.”

Life is what you make of it, and that’s no less true during a pandemic. Work hard, look for opportunities, roll with the punches, and enjoy what you’re doing. Luck certainly helps, but it’s not everything.

“A lot of it is about making your own opportunity,” Nouhan said.

Visit valmont.com, jsberrylaw.com, and Flavor Country Farms on Facebook for more information.

Katie Burton

FEATURE // STORY BY SEAN McCARTHY

THEY PROMISE NEBRASKA BRINGS HIGHER EDUCATION TO MANY IN-STATE STUDENTS

Sitting (socially distanced) at Stories Coffee Co., Ralston High School graduate Briana Orellana’s eyes lit up when she began to talk about law enforcement. When she was younger, she wanted to be a lawyer. Now, she’s studying criminal justice at the

University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Her mother, Jackie Merino, encouraged her to attend the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Then, Orellana’s aunt told her about an article she read that mentioned a program offering free in-state tuition for Nebraska students. Orellana contacted her school in Ralston and found out she qualified for the program. Suddenly, UNL became more of an option. A visit to the Lincoln campus sealed the deal for her.

“I thought it was really nice,” she said. “I was excited I was able to attend.”

The cost of tuition remains a major barrier to higher education for low-income families in Nebraska, as well as middle-income ones. According to UNO’s financial calculator, the cost of tuition for the 2020-21 academic school year is $8,136. UNL’s financial calculator estimated tuition cost for its university at $9,690. Those students with families earning less than $60,000 a year, however, may find the tuition cost at $0 under the Nebraska Promise program.

The program automatically renews after each academic year. To continue receiving the funds, one needs to be a full-time student, a Nebraska resident, and maintain a 2.5 grade point average. Families do not need to apply for Nebraska Promise; eligibility is automatically checked when they fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms, and the money goes directly to their bank accounts. Graduate students are not eligible for Nebraska Promise.

The program was unveiled in April by University of Nebraska president Ted Carter. In a phone interview, Carter said the $60,000 figure was chosen because it represented the median income for Nebraska households. The U.S. Census placed the median household income for Nebraskans at $59,116 (in 2018 dollars). Nebraska Promise replaces Collegebound Nebraska, a sim- ilar tuition relief program. With Collegebound Nebraska, students from families that made less than $40,000 a year were able to go to school tuition-free. Carter, a former superintendent at the U.S. Naval Academy, began his role as president of the University of Nebraska system in January. Carter said Nebraska Promise was a top priority of his at the beginning of the year, but as COVID-19 went from a concerning illness to a pandemic capable of shutting down entire universities, the need to implement the tuition-free program became critical.

“Had we not done this, we probably would be down 10% enrollment,” Carter said.

On April 17, Carter announced Nebraska Promise would be available for the fall 2020 academic year. He estimated the cost of the program to be around $5 million. Carter said the program was paid from the estimated $43 million in cuts over the next three years. Even with the $43 million in cuts, the University of Nebraska system estimated a $50 million shortfall for the last budget year, which ended on June 30.

This fall, universities are facing a shortage of students, further adding to their budget woes. The University of Wyoming forecast a 20% enrollment drop for the fall semester. In April, the American Council on Education predicted a 25% drop in enrollment from international students because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Carter hoped interest in the Nebraska Promise program would offset some of the anticipated enrollment losses from inter- national students. A look at the number of university applicants (applied, not enrolled) showed the program has already proven to be a success. Carter said he hoped the news of the program would result in about 1,000 additional applications. Instead, he saw 3,000 new college applications since the program was unveiled.

Carter said he didn’t look at other university tuition-free programs as a model (for example, the University of Virginia covers tuition for students whose families make less than $80,000 a year). Instead, he just sought to expand the Collegebound Nebraska program. When Nebraska Promise was unveiled, Carter said he routinely heard from people who didn’t know about the previous Collegebound Nebraska program.

Bri ana Orellana

A STUDENT PLEDGING TO ATTEND UNL WHOSE FAMILY MAKES $45,000 PER YEAR, FOR EXAMPLE, WOULD BE ELIGIBLE FOR PELL GRANTS. IF THAT STUDENT RECEIVED $2,500 IN PELL GRANTS AND A $2,500 SCHOLARSHIP, NEBRASKA PROMISE WOULD SUPPLY THE REMAINING $4,690 IN TUITION MONEY.

s university president, I was kind of happy that people saw this in a completely new way, as if it was a brand-new program,” he said.

“It generated a lot of buzz, and that’s what we want,” Carter continued. “I want to see as many people be able to take advantage as we can.”

According to a U.S. News & World Report article about college costs, 46% of University of Nebraska-Lincoln undergraduates receive some sort of need-based financial aid. For the University of Nebraska at Omaha, that number is much higher at 58%.

This program is best described as supplemental insur- ance. A student pledging to attend UNL whose family makes $45,000 per year, for example, would be eligible for Pell Grants. If that student received $2,500 in Pell Grants and a $2,500 scholarship, Nebraska Promise would supply the remaining $4,690 in tuition money.

An important point is that, while the possibility of a tuition-free college experience lifts a tremendous financial burden from students, tuition is only half of the cost of education. The combined costs of books, room and board, fees, and parking can cost just as much, if not more. And these costs are not covered by Nebraska Promise.

Dr. Jeffrey Gold, chancellor of UNO and the University of Nebraska Medical Center, said Pell Grants and other types of aid such as work study can cover non-tuition costs like room, board, and books. The estimated yearly cost of room and board at UNO is $10,196 ($11,830 at UNL). To further alleviate some of the costs to students, the University of Nebraska system froze tuition rates for students for the next two years.

“That’s a commitment to all of our students—that whatever they’re paying in tuition this fall, they’ll pay for at least the next three years,” Gold said.

Almost two weeks before moving into the UNL dorms, Katie Burton sat with her mom, Tracie, at Scooter’s. Katie graduated from Bennington High School this past spring and is studying pre-P.A. (physician’s assistant) at UNL. Katie ultimately wants to be a dermatologist, but she heard about UNL’s pre-P.A. program through a mentor who was assigned to her during New Student Enrollment. Katie said Nebraska Promise did not affect her decision to attend UNL. Still, she was happy to be graduating with less debt. “It’s helping our whole family too. It’s not just helping me. It’s helping my brother [a junior at UNL], and you,” Katie said, pointing to Tracie. “It’s a blessing.”

Tracie works as an early childhood special educator at Anchor Pointe Elementary. She found out about Nebraska Promise through an article from KETV.com on her phone app. Two weeks after filling out Katie’s FAFSA forms, the funds from Nebraska Promise showed up in her account.

“We jumped up and down I think a couple of times,” Katie said.

Tracie herself was able to graduate from UNO debt-free. While studying in Omaha, Tracie lived at home.

“Back then, tuition was like $1,500 a semester.”

A report published by LendEDU (sort of a LendingTree for college loans) estimated the average student loan debt for Nebraska graduates to be about $26,225 in 2019. Tracie hoped her son and daughter wouldn’t have as big of a financial burden to shoulder after graduation.

“I don’t want my kids to come out of school with a tre- mendous amount of debt,” Burton said. “I think with this [Nebraska Promise], they’re not going to have the debt that they would have.”

Once students like Katie and Orellana graduate, they will make the decision about whether to stay in Nebraska. Legislators, professors, and business leaders have wrestled with the state’s persistent “brain drain” problem. Orellana said she would like to move out of Nebraska after she graduates. Katie is leaning toward staying in the state.

Carter said he heard some suggestions of requiring students who receive Nebraska Promise funds to stay in the state after graduation. He preferred a more positive approach to prevent other states from poaching new graduates. Carter said combatting brain drain is one of his goals as university president. He hopes that Nebraska Promise will be part of the solution to that problem.

“By offering this [free tuition], these young men and women who are already Nebraskans are very likely to stay in this state…and turn this into another path to being a much better citizen for the state of Nebraska,” Carter said.

Visit nebraska.edu/nebraska-promise for more information.