By Tyler Dahlgren

Two esteemed Nebraska artists and a whole bunch of bright young Nebraska students filled West Point’s Nielsen Center with cheerful movement last Tuesday, the latest “Special Op” offered to high ability learners by ESU 2’s RESTORE team.

This is year two of ESU 2’s RESTORE (Rural Exceptional Student Talent Opportunities, Resources, & Experiences) grant, which gives gifted kids in grades three through eight out-of-the-classroom experiences that are out-of-the-norm, educational, and, judging by the laughs coming from both Fran Sillau and Carrie Nath’s hour-long workshops, a whole lot of fun.

“”It’s just fun,” said Lyons-Decatur Northeast fifth-grader Laurel Brokaw. “It doesn’t matter what we’re doing, we always have fun.”

That’s a priority for the team behind the planning, said RESTORE project coordinator Dawn DeTurk. Each month’s “Special Op” is an enrichment opportunity for the students, who come from 16 different public school districts. For logistical purposes, the monthly activities are held twice, once for the students from the “North Region” and once for the kids from the “South Region.” 

Sillau and Nath, for example, put on the same workshops at the Fremont Public Schools district office a week after their stop in West Point.

“We know that kids learn more when they’re engaged, so we definitely try to make our events fun and engaging,” said DeTurk. “That’s always a priority.”

They started this school year’s “Special Ops” with Gretna-based Wildlife Encounters in late October, still a consensus crowd favorite even four months later. November’s focus was the National Inventors Hall of Fame for the 3-5th graders and a workshop titled “Droids, Jedi, Rebels, Scoundrels & The Empire” for the older students. In January, the kids jumped into Robotics & Engineering, and next month they’ll learn about Native American ledger art.

“Before the year we brainstorm all kinds of ideas and then we start reaching out and planning our monthly events,” said DeTurk. “We try to hit a variety of different topic areas, whether it be science or theater or arts, just to give them an expansive experience.”

It’s fun to see the students experience new things, and it’s neat to see talented young people from different communities interact. Friendships, like the one between West Point’s Gunnar Tullberg and Lyons-Decatur’s Archer Dolezal, have blossomed.

“It’s fun being with people that you don’t know and learning stuff about things you might not get to normally learn about,” said Tullberg.

His friend agreed.

“Just expanding your knowledge about different things is always fun,” said Dolezal. “Like today, I probably wouldn’t have gotten to do anything like this before RESTORE.”

It’s DeTurk’s hope that new experiences might spark new interests. Hands-on learning has a way of doing that, said West Point fifth-grader Shayna Wolfenden.

“Hopefully they get a deeper understanding of a variety of different topics and then, in the future, that helps guide them to what they want to do for a living,” DeTurk said. “We want to challenge them, get them outside of their box, and give them an opportunity to engage with other students of their ability.”

That ability is eye-opening. Talking with a RESTORE kid is like chatting with a colleague at a business conference. They’re wise and, more than anything, appreciative.

“It feels really nice to be here,” Wolfenden said. “It shows how much they care.”

Brokaw had a similar sentiment.

“It makes me feel special,” she said. “They really care about us.”

Tullberg and Dolezal are a couple of busy guys. Combined, they play basketball, baseball, football and wrestle, and their sports schedule has still been his favorite highlight of fifth-grade. RESTORE, though, is a close second.

“This lets you learn about more things, do more things, and meet more people,” he said.

That’s the goal, said DeTurk.

“Hopefully one of these kids in here will discover the answer to an unanswered question some day.”