Nebraska Public School Advantage News

Nebraska Public School Advantage News

Safety training on the brink of “Back to School” season brings districts and first responders together at ESU 16

Safety training on the brink of “Back to School” season brings districts and first responders together at ESU 16

August 14, 2023
By Tyler Dahlgren In Nebraska’s ever-evolving quest for the best school safety practices, it has proven beneficial for districts to take a proactive rather than reactive approach. Why? Well, there’s the obvious answer of preventing things before they happen. Ultimately, that’s the goal, and it has been for decades. Ogallala Public Schools superintendent Gene Russel went even deeper, bridging the...Read More

The Quintessential Summer: Gering Public Schools, Scottsbluff Family YMCA team up on Summer Sun, Food and Fun Day Camp

The Quintessential Summer: Gering Public Schools, Scottsbluff Family YMCA team up on Summer Sun, Food and Fun Day Camp

July 6, 2023
By Tyler Dahlgren The need for something like Gering’s new Summer Sun, Food and Fun Day Camp has existed for awhile; a 10-week, full-day camp for elementary-aged students that blends education and fun in The Panhandle’s great outdoors. In other words, the quintessential summer experience. Out here, you’ll quickly learn, where there’s a need, there’s a way. There’s usually a will, too. Especially...Read More

The Summer Scholars: Hanny Arram Center for Success academy gives Kearney middle-schoolers a kickstart to summer fun

The Summer Scholars: Hanny Arram Center for Success academy gives Kearney middle-schoolers a kickstart to summer fun

June 21, 2023
By Tyler Dahlgren It’s a Monday morning in June, and the Hanny Arram Center for Success summer scholars are up and at it, sending waves of laughter down Kearney’s 6th Avenue. The theme for the third and final week of their Summer Scholars Academy is “Fun in the Sun”, and the weather is cooperating. So, too, are the 10 middle schoolers, who are enjoying themselves after two studious weeks of...Read More

After touring ESU 5 schools, ESU 16 puts its own spin on innovative mental health program out west

After touring ESU 5 schools, ESU 16 puts its own spin on innovative mental health program out west

June 14, 2023
By Tyler Dahlgren Internal conversations at ESU 16 in Ogallala around mental health had been going on for two years when members of the service unit’s administrative team stepped in front of the mirror and came to an honest conclusion. “The model we had in place was pretty clinical, and our discussions gave us this sense that we weren’t reaching all of the students we serve,” said ESU 16...Read More

Against the Current: Reimagining tomorrow begins today in UMÓⁿHOⁿ Nation Public School’s dazzling new career academy

Against the Current: Reimagining tomorrow begins today in UMÓⁿHOⁿ Nation Public School’s dazzling new career academy

May 30, 2023
By Tyler Dahlgren Highway 75 runs parallel to the Missouri River, nearly touching its banks at the Blackbird Overlook before twisting and tailing westward for miles of soothing prairieland and scenic bliss. A left turn just past the Nebraska Indian Community College will put you right on the village of Macy’s Main Street. From there, it’s a downhill coast towards UMÓⁿHOⁿ Nation Public School and...Read More

A Bovine Budding Tradition: For nearly eight years, locally sourced Titan Beef has fueled Thayer Central

A Bovine Budding Tradition: For nearly eight years, locally sourced Titan Beef has fueled Thayer Central

May 11, 2023
By Tyler Dahlgren Thayer Central wasn’t the first to enhance its lunch offerings by infusing locally sourced beef into the menu, but the small school in Hebron helped kick off a mighty cool trend in August of 2015. That’s when a group of Thayer County ranchers learned of a similar program in Bridgeport and teamed with the local grocer and the school district to launch “Titan Beef”, a program that...Read More

Friendships without Finish Lines: Our Day with the Lincoln Southwest Unified Track Team

Friendships without Finish Lines: Our Day with the Lincoln Southwest Unified Track Team

May 4, 2023
By Tyler Dahlgren It’s almost race time, and the roar of the crowd inside Union Bank Stadium is growing louder and louder. Lincoln Southwest junior Michael Bolen is at the starting line of the 100 meter dash. Not only can he hear them, he can feel them, and that makes him break out in a pre-race smile. “I don’t get that nervous,” said Bolen. “I go way too fast to be nervous.” With the “Pop!” of...Read More

Seventeen Years Strong: Central Nebraska's Youth First Conference is a joy to behold

Seventeen Years Strong: Central Nebraska's Youth First Conference is a joy to behold

May 1, 2023
By Tyler Dahlgren Trent Landreth brought a mythical creature to life with several fail swoops of a drawing marker as his audience marveled in delight. It was an elephant-cheetah hybrid, concocted on-the-spot and in the imagination of someone among the crowd. When the illustrator-turned-social media sensation put the final remarkable touch on his picture, the Archway Museum Event Center echoed...Read More

Leaving Their Mark: For the students behind Stanton’s “Mustang Store”, the school year’s final project is a special one

Leaving Their Mark: For the students behind Stanton’s “Mustang Store”, the school year’s final project is a special one

April 17, 2023
By Tyler Dahlgren Downtown Stanton is charming, pleasant and delightful-all those words bundled into one, really. But the yellow banners that have donned uptown street lamp posts since the Reagan administration was in office? Their once-bright yellow faded into something much more dull and their fabric worn and torn, the old “Welcome to Stanton” banners had seen better days. It was time for them...Read More

An Afterschool Adventure in Omaha: Completely Kids fuses learning and fun while staying true to name

An Afterschool Adventure in Omaha: Completely Kids fuses learning and fun while staying true to name

April 6, 2023
By Tyler Dahlgren Editor’s Note: A little over a year ago, Learning Community of Sarpy and Douglas Counties CEO Dr. Brad Ekwerekwu gave me a tour of the facilities in North Omaha before we saddled up for an hour-long interview that, to this day, is one of the most insightful I’ve conducted. The piece on the Learning Community was published shortly after on Nebraska Public School Advantage, and in...Read More

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