What: One Room, One Teacher dedication
When: 5 p.m., Friday
Where: UNK College of Education building
More information: www.unk.edu/academics/coe/oneroom or contact Tracy Lungrin at 308-698-5278.
By SARA GIBONEY
UNK Communications
KEARNEY – Thirty-five rural school teachers will be honored at the dedication of the One Room, One Teacher Honor Wall on Friday (Sept. 20) at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
“These teachers have had such an impact on so many people, on so many lives in the community,” said Ed Scantling, dean of the College of Education.
UNK’s One Room, One Teacher effort aims to help preserve the stories and history of rural education.
“These teachers have never been honored before. There’s never been any recognition for who they are and what they did,” Scantling said. “The literacy rate in the rural schools was greater than the urban areas, and that’s due to the work of these teachers.”
Donations to the University of Nebraska Foundation in support of the program will fund scholarships for future teachers.
Contributors have their name or the name of a person they are honoring permanently displayed on the One Room, One Teacher wall of honor at UNK. Many of those honored are graduates of UNK, but the university also wants to honor non-alumni. Anyone who taught in a rural school in Nebraska is eligible for the honor, and individual schools may also be recognized.
Many honorees, their families and former students are traveling to Kearney from across the country for Friday’s event. Prior to the dedication, they will have a country school sack lunch at the Museum of Nebraska Art, take a campus tour and learn about current teacher education practices.
“The highlight, really, is an opportunity for those former teachers to share memories of teaching in one room school houses or rural school houses,” said Scantling.
So far, 35 family members, former students or former teachers have supported the program by purchasing plaques to honor a teacher.
“Purchasing a plaque is a chance for a family or former students to honor someone and share their story. We’re making this a really big deal,” said Tracy Lungrin of the University of Nebraska Foundation.
The dedication of the One Room, One Teacher Wall of Honor will take place at 5 p.m. Friday in the UNK College of Education atrium.
“It’s a slice of our history,” Lungrin added. “It’s a tie that binds so many people together. They cannot wait to get here and start talking about the good old days.”
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One Room, One Teacher Honorees
- Doris Rupert Allen Jackson, Sidney (deceased), Cheyenne County School District #68
- Mary Lou Martin Kristensen, Minden, Kearney Co. District #54 and Adams Co. District #14
- Neva Nielsen, Superior (deceased), Eureka Rural School District #80
- Blanche Spade Carpenter, Overton (deceased), Dawson County #94 Sumner
- Evelyn Meyer Eickhorst, Lexington/Cozad (deceased), Box Butte Co. #23 Alliance
- Irene Atkinson Albrecht Hiebert, Kearney (deceased), Walnut Creek School District #3 Webster Co.
- Edna Hammans Randall, Gibbon (deceased), Buffalo Country District #4 Gibbon
- Richard Arneson, Aurora, Colo., Webster Co. District #9 and #51
- Josephine Bissell, Kearney, Mack School District #29, Concord School #46
- Avis Sandberg Brodhead, Banner County (deceased), Epworth School District #20 Banner County
- Marjorie Bishop Burchell, Minden (deceased), Silver Star School District #36, District #64 Norman, Alfalfa Center Buffalo County and Hoosier Valley Kearney Co. District #25
- Ann Morin Choquette, Surprise, Ariz. (deceased), District #39 Franklin County
- Della Mae Courter, Lexington, Dawson County Spring Creek School District #6
- Doris A. Brust Fisher, Geneva, Davenport Community School District #47
- Jessie Elma Lowe Fox, Wolbach (deceased), Greeley County #27 and #37 and Howard County #50, #54, #23
- Mae Hansen Grove, Cadams (Nuckolls County), Daisy Dell School District #69 Cadams
- Jennie Silas Gutierrez, Lexington, Dawson Co. Rural Schools
- Vivene Siemers Keller, Norfolk
- Katherine Dorwart Lewallan, Lincoln, New Hope School District #153 Custer County
- E. Mae Czenkusch Long, Amherst (deceased), Greendale School #31, Hardscrabble District #76, East Stanley District #13
- Fern Mae Enevoldsen Martin, Benkelman (deceased), Sunnyside School District #37 Kenesaw
- Evelyn Frideen Matheny, Kearney (deceased), Grandview School #37 Buffalo County
- Doreen DeBeck McCaroll, Kearney and Hot Springs, S.D., District #96 Antioch
- Roma Sukovaty Meyer, Silver Creek (deceased), Jefferson and Polk Co. Rural Schools
- Doris Bleck Murray, Axtell, Kearney Co. Districts #43, #61 and #25 and Buffalo Co. District #61
- Jean A. Nama, Seal Beach, Calif., Elder Grove School Litchfield
- Colleen Pfeiffer, Amherst, Watertown School District #101 Amherst
- Edith Johnson Skov, Riverdale (deceased), Garfield Co. Schools
- Irma Viola Noble West, Inavale and Two Rivers, Wis., Webster County, Spring Valley and Franklin Rural Schools
- Ardis G. Mullen Yost, Superior, Garfield School District #85 and Inavale School District #6
