BEATRICE – The Homestead National Historical Park will be getting a new Superintendent in March…..a woman who previously served at the National Park Service attraction west of Beatrice.


Betty Boyko will begin her new role as Superintendent at Homestead, in mid-March, coming back to the area from Fort Scott and Fort Larned National Historic Sites in Kansas…where she has been serving as Superintendent.


Beatrice Mayor Stan Wirth says the city was notified of the selection of Boyko, in a communication from Interim Park Superintendent Tim Colyer.
"Betty has some family in this area. Betty actually was with the Park Service here in Beatrice for eight years...and she has been at Fort Scott, Kansas at a park there. She has been in the Park Service now, for some 37 years."


Boyko’s appointment fills the position that opened through the retirement of long-time Homestead National Historical Park Superintendent, Mark Engler.
National Park Service Regional Director Bert Frost announced Boyko’s selection as the new Superintendent, this week.


Boyko said in a statement, “The Homesteading Story is my family’s story.” She says her grandmother was a homesteader and that she and her grandfather purchased a homestead that is still in the family.


The veteran of the National Park Service has served in a wide range of administrative and leadership roles. In her previous eight-year stay at the Homestead when it was called a National Monument, Boyko was an administrative officer and then Deputy Superintendent. Congressional approval changed the name of the monument to a national historical park, to better reflect the story it tells and its role in the history of settlement of the nation.


In addition to her Kansas duties, Boyko began her career at Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site, at St. Croix National Scenic Riverway and Lewis and Clark National Historical Trial.


Boyko is a graduate of Dakota Business College in Fargo, North Dakota…and has represented the National Park Service region in the Emerging Leaders Program.