Written by Shannon Siebert
POSITIVES IN A PANDEMIC: How has the community of Henderson, Nebraska, with a population hovering close to 1,000, reaped the rewards from the COVID-19 Pandemic? This is the fifth in a series about how the pandemic has positively affected Henderson due to the acceptance of working from home and lifestyle changes. How better to end this series than with my daughter Tessa Siebert!
Like many others who have moved back to Henderson, Tessa is a 2007 Heartland graduate who grew up with her brother Taylor and parents Lowell and Shannon Siebert in Henderson. After graduating from Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas, she took off for Denver, Colorado, where she landed a job as a personal trainer at 24 Hour Fitness. Several years later, she made her career change landing a job at Colorado Christian University as an enrollment counselor for adults and graduate studies.
“I think I always knew I might end up back in Nebraska. After 8 years in Denver, I was ready to get out of the city and be closer to home. In the fall of 2019, I decided to move back whether I had a job or not,” said Tessa. The first job she applied for was a position with Hudl, a sports tech company, in Lincoln, where she was hired as a volleyball sales rep. She packed up and found an apartment in Lincoln and enjoyed working at the Hudl downtown office and visiting her family in Henderson more often.
Then Covid hit, and everything changed. “I think most of us at Hudl just thought we’d be working remotely for a week or so, but of course, that didn’t happen. The nice thing about a tech company is we were already working online with our laptops and using Zoom, so it was easier to transition to working remotely. It soon became the new normal working from home,” said Tessa.
Covid also influenced how Tessa eventually bought a house, similar to that on https://www.hpw.com/north-raleigh, and moved to Henderson last March. She had given up her apartment and moved into a house with a friend in Lincoln who later contracted Covid, so Tessa came to Henderson to isolate for a week. By chance, she saw her good friend’s home with a for sale sign in the front yard and contacted her.
Due to the competitive real estate market, like the one mentioned on this important source, and lower-interest loans, Tessa decided to act quickly and was able to purchase it. In a little over a 48-hours, she was now a first-time homeowner in Henderson.
“I tell people that my gym is my yard! It was good moving here in early spring so I could spend time working on sprucing up my yard and putting in my first garden. It’s also been great being close to my nephews and niece, so I can easily attend all their activities,” said Tessa.
She commutes to Lincoln once a week to stop in at Hudl or attend meetings and volunteer with Teammates at a Lincoln elementary school. Her job at Hudl has transitioned to a Customer Success Manager in sales, dealing with renewals for schools in southern California. Even though she misses having a gym to work out in and the conveniences of nearby shopping, she hasn’t been bored while living in Henderson.
“I got involved right away helping my brother Taylor with his Huskie Hoops program, volunteering at Awana, and starting a Bible study with some friends,” said Tessa. She believes she spends less money in Henderson since places like Chick-fil-A aren’t around the corner.
Needless to say, her parents have loved having her closer and enjoy helping her with home fix-it projects. Tessa believes the future is strong for working remotely, so she envisions living and working in Henderson won’t be a problem wherever her career leads her.
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