Nebraska Czechs of Lincoln
Czech Queen

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Stefanie Vocasek

Stefanie is the daughter of Deb and Bill Vocasek and the sister of Michael and Nicholas.

She has attended the Wilber Czech Festival every year since she was born and has also participated in the children’s parade several years as “Future Czech Queen.” the Wilber Czech Prince in 92/93 and  danced Beseda with the Wilber Children’s Beseda Dancers. In 1998 she was the little sister for the Oklahoma state queen at the national pageant in Wilber.

Stefanie graduated from Lincoln High in June 2004 and plans to attend SCC in October in the academic transfer. She will transfer to UNL with a major in Music Education and a minor in Czech. She hopes to someday travel to the Czech Republic and study music there. She hopes to eventually be an elementary music teacher.

Her kroj was designed and made by herself, mother and Aunt. In researching her family history she learned that both sides of her ancestors had the wonderful skill and love for flowers, gardening and farming. She has incorporated hearts and flowers throughout her kroj to show her love of  family and their love of flowers. Two heirloom pieces, a scarf and black apron, were passed on to her by her Great Grandmother Rose Vocasek. She loved flowers and fancy work which Stefanie has proudly displayed in her Kroj. She would like to give special thanks to her Aunt Pam for sewing her Kroj and her mother for all the hand stitching of embroidered lace and glass beads that she added. She wears her kroj in pride and love of her heritage.

Stefanie competed in the State Czech Queen pageant on June 27th in Clarkson, NE. Although she didn’t win, she said it was a wonderful experience and she would do it again in a heartbeat if she had the chance. Her talent was a vocal solo, she picked the song Pisnicka Ceska because music is so important to her and the song talks about life without our beautiful Czech songs. She sang it through once in Czech and once in English for those who didn't understand. She would like to thank Anne Callahan for all her work and help in teaching her the correct way to sing the song in Czech.

Stefanie has tried her best to go to as many festivals she can this year. She would like to thank the Lincoln Czechs for supporting her and choosing her to represent them. It is a huge honor and a dream come true for her; to share her Czech heritage.