Nebraska Public School Advantage News

Nebraska Public School Advantage News

Special Ops: High Ability Learners Granted Enrichment Opportunities Through ESU 2’s RESTORE Program

Special Ops: High Ability Learners Granted Enrichment Opportunities Through ESU 2’s RESTORE Program

February 21, 2025
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...Read More

The Pages of Yesteryear: Inside LPS’s Quest to Construct a Virtual Chronicle

The Pages of Yesteryear: Inside LPS’s Quest to Construct a Virtual Chronicle

February 13, 2025
By Tyler Dahlgren Lincoln Public Schools has built an impressive collection of archives over its 102 years in existence, and now the district is bringing its rich history to life. “There’s so many cool pieces of our history just kind of tucked away in all those file folders downstairs,” said LPS Director of Library of Services Dr. Chris Haeffner. “We’d been wrestling with how to make those...Read More

From One Service Unit to Another: ESU 11 staff visits schools in Seward County for a firsthand look at Wellness 4 All model

From One Service Unit to Another: ESU 11 staff visits schools in Seward County for a firsthand look at Wellness 4 All model

February 12, 2025
By Tyler Dahlgren They’re standing at the foot of something exciting, but before Lona Nelson, April Overholser and Logann Collin embark on a reimagining of ESU 11’s mental health services they ventured east to Seward County for a firsthand look at one of Nebraska’s benchmark programs. We’ve written of the ESU 5 mental health team and their innovative Wellness 4 All model often through the years...Read More

The Sup & The Scribe: Walthill's Seth Sackmann

The Sup & The Scribe: Walthill's Seth Sackmann

February 7, 2025
By Tyler Dahlgren For the better part of his first 25 years, Seth Sackmann was on the move. Born in Illinois, he spent his early elementary years in Wisconsin, near La Cross, before moving to Orange City, IA, just in time for seventh grade. Sackmann graduated high school in 2011 and enrolled at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, where he studied business briefly before becoming bored...Read More

24,000 Tickets and Counting: Gothenburg Elementary staff are catching young Swedes up to so much good

24,000 Tickets and Counting: Gothenburg Elementary staff are catching young Swedes up to so much good

January 23, 2025
By Tyler Dahlgren At Gothenburg Elementary, they live by the Swede Shield. Fifth-graders Dax Hengen, Morgan Barnes and Elsie Cool know it by heart. Kindergarteners Chelsea Aden and John Venteicher do, too, and they recite its values with pride. “Be respectful, responsible, safe and kind,” said Aden, taking a quick media break from teacher Blayre Miller’s kindergarten class. “It’s important to be...Read More

Norris High School Students Win Prestigious NASA TechRise Student Challenge

Norris High School Students Win Prestigious NASA TechRise Student Challenge

January 22, 2025
(Norris, NE) Norris High School is proud to announce that a team of twelve students has been selected as winners of NASA’s esteemed TechRise Student Challenge. As one of only 60 winning teams nationwide, these talented students have earned the opportunity to design, build, and launch a cutting-edge scientific experiment as part of NASA’s commitment to inspiring innovation and STEM education. Over...Read More

Wading the Waters of Shell Creek: Newman Grove’s citizen science project dates back a quarter century

Wading the Waters of Shell Creek: Newman Grove’s citizen science project dates back a quarter century

January 9, 2025
By Tyler Dahlgren Newman Grove science teacher Brett Miller and a group of his student scientists were about a mile south of town, wading the waters of Shell Creek until they reached a set of fish traps they’d set the day before. It was a humid summer night in 2022, and though the day had been busy, the picturesque stream was calm now. Its waters, which have been studied by Newman Grove student...Read More

The Spirit of the Season: Students discover Christmas magic at Arlington Elementary’s ‘Tis the Season Holiday Store

The Spirit of the Season: Students discover Christmas magic at Arlington Elementary’s ‘Tis the Season Holiday Store

January 3, 2025
By Tyler Dahlgren Aspen Fairhead and Olivia O’Reilly perused from one table to the next, their eyes wide and intently scanning the goods laid out before them. The pair moseyed about Arlington Elementary’s ‘Tis the Season Holiday Store like shopping in December is old hat, like they’d been doing it for years. Just two fifth-grade consumers with their sights set on the perfect Christmas gift...Read More

To Tell You the Truth: Riverside’s homegrown educators help bolster school’s strong culture

To Tell You the Truth: Riverside’s homegrown educators help bolster school’s strong culture

January 2, 2025
By Tyler Dahlgren The Cedar River flows just to the west of a 20-mile stretch of Highway 52 that connects Spalding and Primrose down to Cedar Rapids and Belgrade . With campuses in the former and the latter, Riverside Public Schools superintendent Steph Kaczor knows this winding road like the back of her hand. Kaczor isn’t from here, but these communities and this school district, which just...Read More

Guest Spotlight: GISH science students collect data on dog DNA for national research project

Guest Spotlight: GISH science students collect data on dog DNA for national research project

December 3, 2024
By Kelli Mayhew, Grand Island Public Schools ‘Participated in a national research project’ – that’s something not many people can put on their resume. But students in Mrs. Renee Ekhoff’s science class at Grand Island Senior High can. Students got a unique opportunity to collect and extract dog DNA as part of Ekhoff’s Biotechnology Showcase October 28 to November 5. The DNA extraction focused on a...Read More

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