Nebraska Public School Advantage News

Nebraska Public School Advantage News

Class of 2020 Senior Spotlight: Creek Valley's Catie Koenen

Class of 2020 Senior Spotlight: Creek Valley's Catie Koenen

March 27, 2020
By Tyler Dahlgren Fifteen minutes on dirt roads. Through the countryside and Nebraska’s Panhandle, into a town called Chappell. Sometimes, Catie Koenen’s commute to Creek Valley Schools, where she’s been a student since kindergarten, takes a little bit longer. Twenty minutes on some days. Twenty-five on others. But the drive has always been worth it, the destination well worth the distance. “I’ve...Read More

NPSA seeking seniors for Class of 2020 Spotlight Series: Nominations needed!

NPSA seeking seniors for Class of 2020 Spotlight Series: Nominations needed!

March 23, 2020
We tell your stories. Inside these stories lives the transformational power of public education. Every page of this journey nearly four years in the making comes alive with each moment of student success we’re lucky enough to witness. This story’s heart beats with each obstacle hurdled and with each barrier barreled over. For you, the teacher or the principal or the child, such moments are...Read More

Swinging Through 2020: Virtual Reality, Mentorship, Kickball and Culinary Artists Highlight Second Semester Trips

Swinging Through 2020: Virtual Reality, Mentorship, Kickball and Culinary Artists Highlight Second Semester Trips

March 16, 2020
15 January 2020: Bertrand, NE Create, Solve, Innovate: Collaboratively Developed, ESU 11 Lab Sets Students Up For the Future Welcome to Stephanie Dannehl’s library at Bertrand Community School, where, contrary to the cliché, you’re not supposed to be able to hear a pin drop. Especially when ESU 11’s CSI Lab is in town. “This is what I’ve always wanted the library to be, not some quiet, shushed...Read More

Sizzling with Skill: ProStart Chefs Take Center Stage at State Contest

Sizzling with Skill: ProStart Chefs Take Center Stage at State Contest

March 9, 2020
By Tyler Dahlgren Located right off of Sorensen Parkway on the western edge of campus, Metropolitan Community College’s Institute for the Culinary Arts is easy to find. The site of Thursday’s ProStart State Culinary Competition, high school chefs from near and far gathered on the second floor of Building 22 to put their skills on display in front of a panel of judges and fans. Those with a...Read More

Cattle Country, The Land of Opportunity: FFA opens several doors for West Holt students

Cattle Country, The Land of Opportunity: FFA opens several doors for West Holt students

March 2, 2020
By Tyler Dahlgren Welcome to Atkinson, a town surrounded by scenery on the northeastern edge of the Nebraska Sandhills. Home to West Holt Public School, the 2019 state range judging champions in both junior and senior divisions. A school district with a Future Farmers of America (FFA) Chapter so large that an out-of-town-event can turn its building into a ghost-town. Welcome to Cattle Country,...Read More

Where All Means All: Gothenburg's Swede Foundations leaves no student behind

Where All Means All: Gothenburg's Swede Foundations leaves no student behind

February 21, 2020
By Tyler Dahlgren It’s amazing the difference 22 minutes can make. Half the length of a regular period, carved into a mid-morning slot from 9:46 to 10:08 four days each week, Swede Foundations is advancing academic progress and enriching school culture at Gothenburg Public Schools. The program, in just its third year, is doing so while strengthening existing relationships, and paving the way for...Read More

ESU 13 Conference Provides Panhandle Educators a Wintertime Boost

ESU 13 Conference Provides Panhandle Educators a Wintertime Boost

February 20, 2020
By Tyler Dahlgren More than 1,300 educators gathered at four separate sites on Monday for ESU 13’s Mid-Winter Conference, a wintertime tradition in The Panhandle for the last 34 years. An engaging and impressive list of presenters were pulled in from across the state and the country and covered a timely directory of topics, specifically assembled by event organizers in response to feedback...Read More

The Tie That Binds: Storm Families keep culture going strong at Creek Valley

The Tie That Binds: Storm Families keep culture going strong at Creek Valley

February 13, 2020
By Tyler Dahlgren The high-schooler walked hand-in-hand with the kindergartner through their school’s gymnasium in Chappell, a small town in the Nebraska Panhandle. Heartwarming moments like these are growing more common at Creek Valley Public Schools, since the implementation of “Storm Families”, an innovative mentorship model that is binding the entire district. Tessa Fraass, Creek Valley's K-...Read More

Meet Jen McNally: ESU 5's mental health model strives to provide wellness for all

Meet Jen McNally: ESU 5's mental health model strives to provide wellness for all

February 3, 2020
By Tyler Dahlgren Though 18 years in the making, the story of Jen McNally’s career really starts anew each morning. As coordinator for ESU 5’s Mental Health Program, which was piloted ahead of the 2017-18 school year, no two days ever look quite the same for McNally, a psychotherapist herself whose comprehensive approach to mental wellness in the school setting centers on the foundation of self-...Read More

The Next Step: A Key Piece to School Culture, O'Neill's Center for Teaching and Learning Celebrates Student Triumphs

The Next Step: A Key Piece to School Culture, O'Neill's Center for Teaching and Learning Celebrates Student Triumphs

January 27, 2020
By Tyler Dahlgren Eme Aufdenkamp cooks her meatballs in oil as the sizzling from the stovetop blends comfortably into the buffet of sounds coming from the kitchen inside O’Neill’s Center for Teaching and Learning. Ashley Butler browns ground beef and then stirs the meat sauce while Franklin Sorrels maneuvers around his peers and slides a tray of garlic bread into the oven. Their classmates hustle...Read More

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