By Tyler Dahlgren There were magic moments in Columbus last Tuesday night, as a dream more than two and a half years in the making became a heart-warming reality. The grand opening for the Columbus Inclusive Playground drew a large crowd to Lost Creek Elementary School, where students, ALL students, laughed and played under a warm October sun. “It was incredible,” said Megan Johnson, special...Read More
By Tyler Dahlgren Setting the Scene Lee Schneider’s made-for-television movie begins here, at sunset deep in the dunes of the Nebraska Sandhills. The second-year principal’s arms are fully extended to reach his motorcycle’s gorilla ape handlebars. His do-rag flutters in the wind as he drifts down a steep hill, picking up more and more speed with each line of “I Need a Hero” Bonnie Tyler belts out...Read More
By Tyler Dahlgren The Committee Chadron Public Schools have long leaned on strategic planning, a necessity for similar western Nebraska towns where stakeholder input carries substantial and influential value. Vice President of Chadron’s Board of Education, Sandy Roes speaks candidly about the importance of engagement. “We live and die by collaboration,” Roes said. “We don’t have the resources to...Read More
BY TYLER DAHLGREN NCSA COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST They sit around a conference table in Broken Bow’s North Park Elementary School, five calm and collected 6th-graders ready to field any questions that may come their way. It’s Wednesday, so I break the ice with a “Hump Day” quip, which draws a couple of laughs. Common ground. We’re all just working for the weekend. They’re about to be interviewed...Read More
By Tyler Dahlgren NCSA Communications Specialist There was a kickball game in Falls City’s famous Jug Brown Stadium Wednesday morning. And to the casual passerby, it looked like just that. A rather large group of high school students, far more than the regulatory 10 per side, taking a 30-minute reprieve from the classroom to have some fun under an usually strong autumn sun. On the sideline, Katy...Read More
By Tyler Dahlgren NCSA Communications Specialist Last week, we revisited 10 particularly moving insights from educators across the state that we were lucky enough to visit with and feature over the last year. This week, it's the students' turn to talk. S-E-M Junior Lindsey Dittmar *From Sep 6 NPSA article “More Than Meets the Ears: Music unifies students at S-E-M” “I am a part of as much as I can...Read More
By Tyler Dahlgren NCSA Communications Specialist A full year of storytelling is in the books, and while NPSA can't wait to visit more of Nebraska's public schools (the content schedule is filling quickly, so contact news@ncsa.org with any good leads!), we thought we'd revisit some of the most moving insights from administrators and teachers to date. 1.) ESU 13 Director of LifeLink Pam Brezenski *...Read More
By Tyler Dahlgren NCSA Communications Specialist The Song of SEM For a school to have a solid music program, Justin Bosak says, there must be a sturdy foundation in place. Every good band, and every good choir, ensembles that win contests and raise eyebrows in the middle of a high school basketball game, have one thing in common. Numbers. When Bosack came to Sumner-Eddyville-Miller (SEM) Public...Read More
By TYLER DAHLGREN NCSA Communications Specialist The countdown was on, and, as the moon blanketed more and more of the sun mid-Monday, excitement on the Sumner-Eddyville-Miller football field grew in anticipation for the moment of totality. No one, not the teachers, administration, students or community members, knew exactly what to expect, but they were gathered to take in a historic experience...Read More
By Tyler Dahlgren NCSA Communication Specialist “If you can wish for anything, you can do it.” Those words, from 2017 Omaha Northwest graduate Kalpana Gurung, come near the end of “Seeds of Hope”, the latest documentary from Nebraska Loves Public Schools. That message, one of hope, reverberates throughout the entirety of the moving, 35-minute exploration into the education of immigrant and...Read More