Alumni Spotlight: Morgan Holen
Written By Ann Huddleston, Alumni Relations
It’s not often a young person, or rather anyone, is so incredibly well spoken. Morgan Holen, ESHS Class of 2016, grew up in a family where they might get questioned about current events at the dinner table and be expected to share their thoughts. This resulted in being aware of the happenings around the world and the knowledge it takes to be able to communicate clearly, on the spot. Why? Morgan’s mom was Miss Nebraska 1988 and an active volunteer in the organization. Morgan and her sister grew up going to the events, observed behind the scenes, and Morgan eventually decided to compete. In 2014, she competed and won Miss Nebraska Teen. She also went on to Miss Omaha and then to compete in the Miss Nebraska pageant where she was crowned, then served as Miss Nebraska in 2021. Those dinner conversations helped train her to constantly stay informed and to be able to think on the spot with well thought-out answers.
Morgan graduated from Elkhorn South High School in 2016 where she participated on the dance team, varsity show choir, and student council. During that time, the dance team wasn’t competing on a national level yet. ESHS now has competitive dance and Morgan even grew up dancing at Kitty Lee with one of the current ESHS dance coaches Amanda Pyle! Some memorable teachers who stood out to her during her time at Elkhorn were her 4th grade Spring Ridge teacher, Miss Connell, who she saw while attending the Spring Ridge Carnival during her time as Miss Nebraska. Mr. Adam Lambert (not to be confused with the singer), the ESHS show choir director at the time, was also very pivotal in her education. He encouraged his show choir students to be involved in multiple interests rather than focus all of their attention on one activity. Because of this, the show choir had students of all backgrounds participating.
During her time as Miss Nebraska, Morgan toured the state and visited Washington, D.C., many times. She traveled about 30,000 miles over the course of the year! Mr. Lambert, her former ESHS show choir director, had since moved to Imperial, where he became the Superintendent of the district. Morgan visited Imperial, where she presented to the Chase County School District about the importance of mentorship and becoming a mentor, in this case, the mentorship program is with the TeamMates organization. The small town of Bertrand is another notable visit for Morgan. Her dad grew up there, and during the county fair, she was able to be in the parade, enjoy the energy of the town, see family members, and speak in many classrooms. As for her time in DC, Morgan was able to lay a wreath at The tomb of The Unknown Soldier and go under the bunker for a behind the scenes look. For her, it was meaningful being there and being able to honor all of the individuals that had served in the military and were buried there.
Morgan attended the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and while there, in addition to spending a year as Miss Nebraska, she participated in the Husker Dance Team, the Scarlets. Being a Scarlet meant being involved in every aspect of every game from football to softball, basketball to baseball. They started the day weightlifting in the mornings, practicing later in the day and maybe performing at a game later. On some days, they’d represent the athletic department in the community at locations such as nursing homes or fundraising events. Of course, the Husker football game day tunnel walk sticks out in her memory with some unforgettable moments.
While at UNL, Morgan continued mentoring students with TeamMates and spoke often about her experience at events for Miss Omaha/Miss Nebraska. Covid came into the picture during her senior year of college, so she used that time and leftover money from Miss Omaha to invest in becoming a certified Gallup Strengths Coach. She was able to use that skill to help other Miss America contestants learn their strengths. Morgan traveled across the country volunteering at a national level speaking with young women at different chapters of her sorority about the importance of their strengths and how to leverage them.
Currently, Morgan is a director of a local nonprofit organization called Women Investing in Nebraska (WIN), part of the University of Nebraska Foundation. In 2022, a week after she handed her crown to the next Miss Nebraska, she began working with this group of women to help award grants to the University of Nebraska system (Kearney, Lincoln, Omaha, UNMC) and other Nebraska nonprofit projects. The group has flourished with more than 300 women across the state and continues to grow. The winners of these grants span the whole state, not limited to larger metropolitan areas like Lincoln and Omaha. Morgan is still mentoring for TeamMates and traveling for her sorority, Chi Omega, on a leadership committee that travels the country giving workshops to collegiate students. In her spare time, Morgan enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling and dancing and choreography. Morgan recently became engaged to be married.
Morgan regards her time in Elkhorn with fondness. She thinks of it as a community that bands together in tough times. Elkhorn encourages an environment where you strive for excellence and being involved. In fact, Morgan was on the University of Nebraska at Lincoln’s homecoming court with three other Elkhorn alumni. Four out of twenty were from Elkhorn, which is telling of the culture. She advises current students to invest back in the community and ask to be involved with the things they love. She advises, “Find something you love and spend a lot of time there. To lead a lot of different people you’ve got to be around different types of people and make them your community.”
