By Tyler Dahlgren

The questions came flooding in from student leaders across the state.

Standing in a conference room at ESU 3 in La Vista in front of 24 of the metro’s brightest, with a few hundred others participating through Zoom from 37 virtual sites, Nebraska governor Jim Pillen diligently answered each one.

“How do we keep young leaders and bright young minds in Nebraska,” a student from Sioux City asked.

“I say it all the time, the narrative that Nebraska is a fly-over state hasn’t changed,” Governor Pillen said near the end of his two-minute long answer. “We’re a fly-to state. It’s really important that you all know that.”

They continued to roll in. From Neligh to South Sioux City, from the governor’s alma mater, Columbus Lakeview, to Cross County and Gibbon. Several were posed from within the room. 

Pillen’s underlying message to the students was reflected in that sentiment. Nebraska is a great place, and the state is going to need the leadership of its youth to continue as such.

“The four most important words a leader needs to be willing to ask are ‘What do you think?’" Pillen told the students. “I’ve never had anybody in my life ever get upset at being asked what they think. Ask ‘What do you think?’ And then listen.”

The Governor and Nebraska Student Leaders event on October 26th was the second of its kind. During the first go-round back in 2024, 16 different sites virtually connected. This year, that number more than doubled.

“We were interested in showing how ESUs are efficient using Zoom, efficient while stretching statewide,” said Dr. Larianne Polk, Chief Executive Officer of the Educational Service Unit Coordinating Council (ESUCC). “We hold a pre-event Zoom training where we talk about what is necessary for each side, and then we have each site join an hour before the event starts.”

ESU 3, which serves 18 school districts and more than 86,500 students, played the role of host. A few years ago, CEO Dr. Dan Schnoes played the role of instigator.

“This idea came from a brainstorming session we had with our lobbyist, Jason Bromm, on a car ride to an ESUCC meeting Beatrice,” Schnoes reflected. “He’s always looking for opportunities to shine the light on ESUs, the work that we do and the connections we have across the state. We came up with this format and thought we’d pitch the idea to the governor’s office. That pitch went very well, and they were up for it and all in.”

From there, the IT team at ESU 3 and tech folks from around the state worked their magic to bring the event to life. Anything that needed to be ironed out from the event two years ago was addressed and amended, and the event went off without a hitch.

“By opening it up and providing opportunities for school districts to connect directly in, we were able to share the expertise of our service agencies at the areas that were hosting and also the connections we have with our school districts as well,” Schnoes said. “Our goal was for the governor to like to do this again, and from what we heard from him after the event he found it refreshing and would love to do it again.”

Before Governor Pillen’s 45 minutes on center state, there was a legislative panel consisting of  Senator Lauren Lippincott, lobbyist Payton Coulter, Senator Jana Hughes’ administrative assistant Katie Quintero, Page Supervisor for the Nebraska Legislature Kristen Perez and Bill Biven, a budget analyst with the Nebraska Legislature’s Fiscal Office.

“The purpose was twofold,” said Polk. “We wanted to give the schools an opportunity to interact with the governor, and we wanted to show the students some state government opportunities that they might not have realized were there before. It’s a great opportunity for our student leaders to interact with the governor and understand more about public service and state government.”

After the first event was held two years ago, several students followed up on those very opportunities with Bromm and the contacts they made at the event. Some even visited the Capitol for tours and one took a job as a Page. Not only does the event shrink the state, but it magnifies opportunity. 

“Every type of school was invited,” Polk explained. “We had public, we had private, and we had homeschooled students. Every piece of the educational ecosystem, when it comes to kids, were invited to take part and participate.”

From there, it was on the students. They held up their end of the bargain.

“They never cease to amaze me,” Polk said. “Thirty-seven students were invited to submit questions, and we ended up with a list of 95. We whittled those questions down based on topic. The governor doesn’t see the questions beforehand. He doesn’t vet them. We simply put them in an order that makes sense, and, my gosh, they never cease to amaze us. We have incredible talent in Nebraska. Whether they’re in a large Class A school or in a small, rural school, they’re just such talented kids and we need to keep them here.”

Governor Pillen brought his time to a close by congratulating the 53 Nebraska students who scored a perfect score on the ACT, an eye-opening statistic that he was proud to highlight.

“I just want to give a gigantic congratulations to everyone here as part of this process,” the governor said. “Keep taking risks for yourself to grow. Keep working hard and doing your best every day. If we can do that, you can be anything you want. You are the future, and we need you in Nebraska.”