HARTINGTON – Jennifer Kleinschmit and Samantha Stevens speak to each other quite often during high school speech season in northeast Nebraska.
That is because not only are they speech coaches at their respective high schools, they are sisters whose love for the fine arts was fostered in their hometown of Hartington.
Samantha and her husband, Kyle, have been the co-coaches of the Wausa High School speech team since 2016, while Jennifer is the first-year Cedar Catholic High School coach in Hartington.
“Jennifer and I have always been involved in fine arts our whole lives, so both of us using those talents to coach kids at our respective schools is no surprise,” Samantha said.
“We bounce ideas off each other all season long, as well as preseason when we are both looking for scripts and building our teams,” she said. “We do this because it is always good to network and share ideas if it will benefit the kids.”
Jennifer recently concluded her first season as the coach of the Cedar Catholic speech team.
“I am a lot newer to coaching than she is,” Jennifer said of Samantha. “I’ve asked her and her husband, Kyle, lots of questions and gotten advice from them.
“It is such a joy to see them at meets, and there have been a few meets where our sons Adam Kleinschmit and Eddie Stevens, who are both fourth-graders, have gotten to hang out together,” she said.
When Jennifer took over the Cedar Catholic speech program in 2024 after serving as an assistant coach for five years, Samantha was happy for her older sister.
“I knew she could do it and she had all the ability to push her students to be the best,” Samantha said. “Kyle and I offered advice when she was organizing a meet about the best ways to do it. She is a fast learner.”
Jennifer and Samantha (Lauer) grew up in Hartington, attended Holy Trinity Elementary and graduated from Cedar Catholic – Jennifer in 2000 and Samantha in 2008.
In high school, Jennifer competed in Serious Prose and Oral Interpretation of Drama as her main speech events, as well as tried Humorous Prose and Extemporaneous Speaking.
“When I was in high school, I competed in Serious Prose, OID and Poetry,” Samantha said of various speech events. “I actually joined fine arts because my big sister, Jennifer, did it when she was in high school; she was great motivation to me as her little sister.”
Jennifer noted she has much to learn as the coach of a speech team.
“I’ve made lots of professional connections and friendships, and I learn so very much from Samantha and Kyle and their program,” Jennifer said.
Samantha noted she appreciates the relationship she has with her sister, especially their shared interest in the fine arts.
“It has been amazing to have speech and fine arts be such a large part of my family life,” Samantha said. “Seeing my nieces and nephews and sister almost every Saturday for months (during speech season) is a huge blessing.”
