Katherine Buth
2025 Golf Fore Grants
Golf Fore Grants Raised $61K for Classroom Grants!
On Monday, June 2nd, 152 golfers, 12 Foundation staff, and 7 volunteers came together to make the 26th Annual Golf Fore Grants a huge success! Golf Fore Grants is the primary fundraiser for the Foundation Classroom Grant Program, and through the generosity of our supporters, this year’s Golf Fore Grants raised $61,000!
The Foundation’s Classroom Grant Program benefits students at all grade levels, and each year teacher requests for grants continue to grow. For the 2025-2026 school year, the Foundation approved 76 classroom grants, totaling $158,800! A few exciting grants for next school year include Geriatric Impairment Kits at all three high schools, books for the Birth-to-3 Program, and One School One Book at Iron Bluff Elementary, opening this fall!
This program benefits students and EPS staff in tremendous ways, and parents are so grateful for the support students receive. Kolleen Benjamin has a daughter, Quinn, in seventh grade, and this year Quinn participated in Battle of the Books at Elkhorn Grandview Middle School. After two years of programming, the 2024-2025 school year was the first year that the Middle School Battle of the Books program applied and was awarded Classroom Grant Funds. As a parent, Kolleen loves that “kids are supported in various ways that appeal to their unique learning style. It’s important for parents to know the ways their students receive support from the Foundation and the Elkhorn Public Schools at every level.”
Watch our recap video!
Scramble Winners
Flight 1:
1st Place: (Pictured at the top of the page) David Abbott, Brandon Banik, Ryan Murchinson, & Jerry Stovie – Winning Score of 56.
2nd Place: (Pictured left – not in order) Jeff Ziemba, Paul Grieger, Cody Wickham, & Brent Geissinger (DA Davidson) – Winning Score of 57.
Flight 2:
1st Place: (Pictured right – not in order) Jeremy Winn, Heath Mlnarik, Zane Hinkel, & Chuck Driffill (SEi) – Winning Score of 62.
2nd Place: Jack Holmes, Colter Boice, Max Mosser, & Colton Stock (Bridges Trust) – Winning Score of 62.
Flight 3:
1st place: (Pictured left – not in order) Felicia Janovich, Josh Cherry, Casey Kuhl, & Seth Kuhl (LIVE Hydration) – Winning Score of 67.
2nd place: Laura Burford, Brandi Ballan, Jon Dittenber, Shane Reardon (West Gate Bank) – Winning Score of 67.
Pin Prize Winners
Hole #1: Closest Second Shot – Mike Hoch
Hole #3: Closest to Pin in One Shot – Jacob Falk
Hole # 6: Longest Drive in Fairway – Terry Knief
Hole #9: Longest Putt – Josh Falk
Hole #12: Closest to Pin in One Shot – Blake Barry
Hole #15: Closest Second Shot – Jacob Falk
Hole #17: Longest Putt – Jerry Stovie
Hole #18: Longest Drive in Lower Fairway – Shane Reardon
Golf Poker Winners
1st place: Dave Patten (4-4s)
2nd place: Nate Scott (Full House – Queens over)
3rd place: Jed Givens (Full House – 9s over)
Other Winners:
Raffle Winners: Fun in the Sun Basket – Brian Beck, Javi’s Gift Card – Sara McArdle
Putting Green Contest: Traut Foursome
Want to see more pictures from Golf Fore Grants? Visit our Facebook Page!
Extra special thank you to the ESHS Cheerleaders, friends of the foundation volunteers, and Foundation & EKC staff!
Thank you to our 2025 Golf Fore Grants Sponsors!
Middle School Battle of the Books
A fun classroom grant that encourages students to read!
Could you create and perform a rap battle between two characters from a list of books that you read in the last year? How many books have your read in the last year? On Monday, May 12th, 120 students from the five Elkhorn middle schools gathered at the Educational Service Unit #3 for the Elkhorn Middle School Battle of the Books Competition after months of preparation.
The Middle School Battle of the Books is one of the 68 classroom grants that were awarded during the 2024-2025 school year. This grant helped to purchase books for the students competing in Battle of the Books; plus, the books supported middle school independent reading goals, book clubs, and school-wide reading competitions.
The Foundation’s Classroom Grant Program benefits students at all grade levels, and each year teacher requests for grants continue to grow. For the 2025-2026 school year, the Foundation approved 76 classroom grants, totaling $158,800! A few exciting grants for next school year include Geriatric Impairment Kits at all three high schools, books for the Birth-to-3 Program, and One School One Book at Iron Bluff Elementary, opening this fall!
Throughout the year, each student participating in Battle of the Books is required to read at least three books from the pre-selected list. According to Rachel Jussel, media specialist at Elkhorn Grandview Middle School, “the idea is that each team would read all of the books on the list with some kids overlapping certain titles.”
At the beginning of the competition, the challenges were presented to the 25 competing teams. While many students competed in the elementary Battle of the Books, the middle school competition is very different. Rachel said, “The main difference between the elementary Battle of the Books and middle school battle is the competition type. Instead of a quiz-based competition, students have the day to work on up to 8 tasks ranging in content from technology, performance, or writing.”
Each challenge has suggested books, recommendations for time and resources, completion requirements, and points possible. The points possible depend on the difficulty of the task. “Students are able to divide and conquer on the tasks they wish to complete, and they have agency over how many points they earn based on the tasks they choose,” Rachel said. “They may not be able to complete every task (time is definitely limited), but they get to choose the projects that they feel would best represent their knowledge on the topic, and then they present their project to judges.”
The first-place winning teams for each category received a trophy, and teams in 2nd and 3rd place received medals. All the remaining teams received ribbons.
Quinn Benjamin, a seventh grader at Elkhorn Grandview Middle School, participated in Battle of the Books in fourth and fifth grade at Manchester Elementary but decided not to participate in sixth grade even though she read all the books for the competition. However, she participated this year because “I just had to do it again because I really liked it and I missed doing it,” Quinn said.
It’s easy to see why Quinn missed competing with her friends because as you entered the room, it was abuzz with excitement, laughter, and middle school shenanigans as the teams frantically worked together to complete the tasks. “I like being with all of my friends and working with books because a lot of my friends like to read,” Quinn said. “I like working together.”
Kolleen Benjamin, Quinn’s mom, reflects that Quinn has always been a reader, but she has “seen Quinn’s love for reading grow even greater” after joining the Middle School Battle of the Books. “It has helped her form closer friendships and aided in her finding a community of friends who are book lovers as well,” Kolleen said. “I see them making book recommendations to each other and get excited when a new book release comes out.”
The books for the competition are the 2024-2025 Nebraska Golden Sower 6th-8th grade nominees. The 2024-2025 nominees were Ain’t Burned all the Bright by Jason Reynolds, Attack of the Black Rectangles by A. S. King, Dear Mothman by Robin Gow, I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys, Lasagna Means I Love You by Karen O’Shaughnessy, Lines of Courage by Jennifer Nielsen, Miss Quinces by Kat Fajardo, Nic Black and the Remarkables by Angie Thomas, Two Degrees by Alan Gratz, and What Happened to Rachel Riley? by Claire Swinarski.
Kolleen adds, “The Golden Sower books used in middle school BOTB introduces them to books they might not have read otherwise.”
Quinn’s favorite book she read for the competition was Dear Mothman. “It was about this boy whose best friend died in a car crash and he was trying to write to this fictional character, Mothman, about him working through his trauma,” she said. Ultimately, Quinn likes to read “because there’s so many different stories and I like to be transported into the setting of the story and imagine I’m with the characters.”
The middle school media specialists are making a conscious effort to encourage and incentivize reading for enjoyment. The media specialists were awarded classroom grants for the Middle School Battle of the Books and Sora, a platform that provides students with access to audiobooks and ebooks. Additionally, this year the Foundation increased the funds provided for reading incentive programs at the middle schools and high schools. The middle school media specialists used those funds in 2024-2025 to provide prizes during the second quarter, cookies & cocoa, and the fourth quarter, a Kona Ice truck, for students who complete a certain amount of prompts on a reading choice board.
As a parent, Kolleen loves that “kids are supported in various ways that appeal to their unique learning style. I’m especially impressed at the middle school level all the areas of opportunity students have to explore their interests. It’s important for parents to know the ways their students receive support from the Foundation and school district at every level.”
Elkhorn Ridge Middle School Battle of the Books participants posing with their ribbons and medals
SkillsUSA
Special thank you to Prairie Mechanical for donating cordless construction tools and lumber to this new EPS organization!
SkillsUSA is an organization new to the three Elkhorn high schools beginning in the 2024-2025 school year in order to help students build technical skills that will benefit them in high school and beyond. This organization aligns with the national and local push for more skilled-and-technical tradespeople. The inaugural year was made easier by a donation of Milwaukee cordless construction tools and lumber from Prairie Construction, a local Omaha construction company.
The materials – donated by Prairie Construction and Steve Rease, owner and executive vice president – are required for students to compete in a SkillsUSA competition. There were 30 student participants between the three schools this year. “Steve and Prairie Construction helped SkillsUSA with the hurdle of buying construction tools as they are an expensive startup for any chapter,” said Jon Critser, Skilled & Technical Sciences instructor/SkillsUSA Advisor at Elkhorn North and South. “With the donation, students were able to compete. As SkillsUSA expands at EPS we will need other donations to help students compete in other areas.”
During the SkillsUSA meetings, the instructors at each school – Jon Critser at Elkhorn North High School and Elkhorn South High school, Thomas Petersen at Elkhorn High School, Matt Wachter at Elkhorn North High School, and Patrick Schiley at Elkhorn South High School – guide students as they practice skills such as cabinet making, residential framing, blueprint reading, 3D printing, laser engraving, and building toy trucks. This guided practice is so important because once students are at the competitions “they are on their own,” Jon said. “As teachers and advisors, we are not able to interact with them during their competition. They are given a set of instructions to work off of for their competition and use what they have learned to complete that task.”
In April, all three SkillsUSA clubs attended the Nebraska State Leadership and Skills Championships in Grand Island, and one student from EPS placed and is now eligible to compete at the National SkillsUSA Leadership and Skills Conference in June in Atlanta. Jon noted, “To have one place in the top two and be eligible to go to Nationals our first year at EPS is just an awesome testament to our students, teachers and SkillsUSA advisors.”
Jon notes, “SkillsUSA empowers students to become the skilled professionals, career-ready leaders and responsible community members that we need today. It improves the quality of our nation’s future skilled workforce as many industries today face a shortage of skilled workers. SkillsUSA offers a tangible way to help solve this problem.”
The Elkhorn Public Schools is encouraging careers and trades in a variety of ways, and a notable effort was the partnership in 2024 with the Elkhorn Public Schools Foundation to create the ACHIEVE Career & Technical Education (CTE) Scholarship that parallels the already established ACHIEVE Advanced Placement (AP) Scholarship. For the ACHIEVE CTE Scholarship, students who complete a series of required coursework (including a Program of Focus, featuring a variety of careers), participate in a number of Career Exploration Experiences, are in school-based extracurricular activities, perform community service hours, submit a resume & cover letter, and are enrolled in a post-secondary institution receive the scholarship. In 2024, there were 32 graduates who received the ACHIEVE CTE Scholarship, and this year 87 graduates from the Class of 2025 will be awarded the scholarship. These growing numbers show that students are becoming more aware of skilled-and-technical trades and careers available to them.
Ultimately, throughout his career, Jon has seen the impact of SkillsUSA, the importance of strong community partnerships like the one with Prairie Construction, and the overall benefit of putting more emphasis on the trades.
“Every teacher’s hope and dream is that their students will find that niche that they want to work in after high school,” Jon said. “I saw students go on to trades school and technical college, who normally would not have gone on to focus on a career that will change their lives, as well as their community forever.”
Skyline One School, One Book
All Skyline families received a copy of Pie by Sarah Weeks to encourage reading as a life-long skill
The Skyline Elementary gymnasium was filled with students and Skyline staff on Friday, March 7th, to celebrate finishing their One School, One Book program. The students’ enthusiastic cheers echoed throughout space as if they were sitting front row at a game for their favorite sports team while they awaited the culminating activity: a pie eating contest.
This was the third year that Skyline participated in a school-wide classroom grant funded by the Elkhorn Public Schools Foundation called One School, One Book. This program provided a copy of the book, Pie by Sarah Weeks, to every family at Skyline.
Brynn Selk, third grade teacher and head of the One School, One Book planning committee, explained the benefits of this program. “One School, One Book promotes literacy, reading together as a family, and building a sense of community. It provides opportunities for families to spend time together and talk about a book,” she said. “It also allows teachers the opportunity to have class discussions on the book and incorporate it into daily lessons.”
When looking for a school-wide book, it can be difficult to find a book that appeals and is appropriate for all students, kindergarten through 5th grade. However, Sarah Weeks previously did an author visit at Skyline, and a fellow Elkhorn elementary school, Blue Sage, used Pie for their school and had a lot of fun.
“Sarah Weeks was a recent author visit for us and our students were so engaged during her presentation. She was wonderful to listen to,” Brynn said. “Sarah Yandell and I looked at themes from the book, possible activities, and decided it was a good fit for this year!”
The One School, One Book program kicked off at the end of January with a secret dress-up day where all staff wore cat or pie-themed items since those are big topics in the book. To help families during One School, One Book, a reading pacing guide with an ending date was sent home. Each week an activity was sent home that connected with that week’s reading. The activities included a cat coloring page, a writing prompt about what they would do if they won the top baking honor, create a recipe for “Skyline Pie”, write a thank you card to someone special, and compose a jingle. Students who completed all the activities got a raffle ticket to enter the pie eating contest. The final activity was an assembly featuring a staff pie eating contest.
The One School, One Book program kicked off at the end of January with a secret dress-up day where all staff wore cat or pie-themed items since those are big topics in the book. To help families during One School, One Book, a reading pacing guide with an ending date was sent home. Each week an activity was sent home that connected with that week’s reading. The activities included a cat coloring page, a writing prompt about what they would do if they won the top baking honor, create a recipe for “Skyline Pie”, write a thank you card to someone special, and compose a jingle. Students who completed all the activities got a raffle ticket to enter the pie eating contest. The final activity was an assembly featuring a staff pie eating contest.
“Students were super excited to get to feed an adult,” Brynn said.
The day of the assembly the students’ excitement was palpable in the gym. Principal Sarah Yandell read a short passage from the book to the gathered students and staff as the participants prepared for the pie eating contest. Six staff volunteers outfitted in garbage bags (one staff member even had a shower cap topped with a pie headband) sat at the table with a slice of pie in front of each of them. Behind each staff member was a student who would be feeding the staff their pie. The students were selected from a raffle of individuals who had completed all the book activities.
When Principal Yandell said “Go!”, the participating students frantically started feeding the pie to the staff member, and the gym erupted in cheers for the participants. It didn’t take long before there was a two-way tie that was solved with a classic game of rock paper scissors. The winning team, fourth grade teacher Jared Crawford and fourth grade student Lona, both received a shiny trophy for their pie eating victory.
This fun and engaging program was one of the 68 classroom grants that were approved for the 2024-2025 school year. “When community members donate to the Foundation, they are directly impacting students of Elkhorn!” Brynn said. “It is SO cool that every student at Skyline was able to read the same book.”
Classroom grants like One School, One Book show students that reading can be fun and for any age. Brynn noted, “Thank you for this grant and supporting us! Reading is one of my passions (personally and professionally) so being able to lead the committee for this grant is such an honor.”
Reading Across the Programs: Classroom Grants
Reading-Focused Classroom Grants Help Make Reading Accessible for All Students
The Foundation’s Classroom Grant program encourages teachers to dream and apply for supplementary materials that could deepen students’ learning in the classroom. The 68 classroom grants approved for the 2024-2025 school year support different areas of learning across the district, but notably, 24 of those grants support reading and literacy across the grade levels.
Those grants include several reading literacy programs, Bob Book Reading, math & reading toolboxes, literacy nights, audiobooks for elementary students, books for Battle of the Books at the elementary and middle school levels, the Sora platform for middle school, books for an AP literature class, One School One Book, a grade set of “Who Was…?” books, national park books, and books for a book swap.
At the elementary level, preloaded audiobooks called Playaways have made a lasting impact. Since 2019, more than 10 schools across the district have written grants for Playaways, and some of those schools have written repeat grants due to the Playaways popularity among students. Melissa Lightle, Fire Ridge Media Specialist, has witnessed the impact of Playaways at her school. Since 2019, Melissa notes, Fire Ridge has circulated 4,811 Playaways, and this year alone Fire Ridge has circulated 421 Playaways.
“The Playaways increase the selection of books for students because the audiobooks provide them an opportunity to tackle challenging texts that they would normally reject,” Melissa said. “I love that students feel empowered to tackle challenging books because of Playaways!”
Students take that empowered feeling about reading with them to middle school. With the help of the Foundation, the middle school media specialists worked to create cohesive programming that ties classroom grants, such as Sora and middle school Battle of the Books, to the reading incentive program and other reading challenges like the Golden Sower list.
According to Rachel Jussel, Elkhorn Grandview Middle School Media specialist, due to the interconnected nature of the programs, there just weren’t enough copies of certain books to accommodate all the students who were trying to read them. Students were trying to check out books from the Golden Sower list for Battle of the Books, to complete the Golden Sower Challenge, or just because it looked interesting.
Now there are copies specifically for students competing in Battle of the Books. “Through the Elkhorn Public Schools Foundation contributions, we were able to provide people with resources that they need to succeed, including a wider selection of books, new team building materials, and access to engaging activities that foster individual growth and collaboration. This helps build a community of learners,” said Rachel.
Another classroom grant at the middle school level is Sora. The Sora platform provides students with access to thousands of ebooks and audiobooks through the Nebraska Library Consortium and the Omaha Public Library. The middle schools had Sora during Covid and wanted to bring it back because it was beneficial for all students. According to Amy Williams, media specialist at Elkhorn Valley View Middle School, the platform is filterable, very easy for students to use, and can be used on the students’ school-provided devices.
“Sora just gives our kids more access to more titles that are going to change with the times,” Amy said. This platform is especially beneficial because it helps students who have learning differences or individuals who like to listen to the audiobook as they follow along.
All of the reading and literacy based programs at the elementary, middle school, and high schools have a clear goal.
“We want kids to read, and kids read when they have access to books and when they have an incentive to read. That’s it,” Amy said. “We want to give them reasons to read and we want to get them hooked, and then once they’re hooked, we want to make sure that they have access to the books.”
Reading Across the Programs: Reading Incentives
Middle & High School Students Encouraged to Read for Enjoyment Through Reading Incentives
The Elkhorn Public Schools Foundation has established programs such as Classroom Grants, Math & Reading Intervention, Tuition Reimbursement, and the Kids in Need Fund. In addition to those programs, the Foundation also will help as needs arise. For the last couple of years, the Foundation has been providing funds for prizes for reading incentive programs at the middle and high schools, and this year the Foundation decided to increase the funding of the reading incentives at the middle and high schools.
In middle and high school, students begin to read for enjoyment less and less. Kelsey Orr-Stevinson, Elkhorn South High School Media Specialist, has observed “many of our students already identify as readers, while others feel like they have let that part of their identity fade as they get older. Some students feel like they don’t have time for reading, while others might have a hard time finding a book that is right for them.”
“Only 34.6% of children and young people aged 8 to 18 said that they enjoyed reading in their free time.”
National Literacy Trust
Kelsey’s anecdotal evidence aligns with current research. The National Literacy Trust conducts the Annual Literacy Survey to gauge children and young people’s opinions on reading for fun. According to the 2024 results, of the 76,000 respondents surveyed only “34.6% of children and young people aged 8 to 18 said that they enjoyed reading in their free time. Reading enjoyment levels have decreased by 8.8 percentage points over the past year alone.” In an effort to increase recreational reading, minimize screen time, and combat reading apathy, the middle and high school media specialists began expanding their reading incentive programs with funding assistance from the Foundation.
At Elkhorn North High School, each student is offered a graphic organizer with various reading prompts. Jessica Ethridge, ENHS Media Specialist, explains, “After completing a book category from the graphic organizer, students ‘book talk’ with the media specialist who then signs off on their work and enters them into raffles, which include candy and gift cards that the Foundation graciously provided.” Additionally, all participants receive a “Chip Chip HOORAY” certificate redeemable for a bag of chips for participating.
The reading challenge at Elkhorn South High School, organized by ESHS Media Specialist Kelsey Orr-Stevinson, is called “Reading Up A Storm.” Similar to the challenge at ENHS, students choose and read books that align with fun categories on a reading choice board. After completing a prompt, the students are entered into a raffle for prizes which are funded by the Foundation. Kelsey estimates that roughly 200 students participate each semester.
Leigh Geis, Elkhorn High School Media Specialist, has used the choice board in previous years, but she wanted to try something different this year. In an effort to make the discussions about books more organic, Leigh hosts a monthly themed book discussion similar to a book club. The students begin discussing books that match the theme, and similar to the other high schools, once a student demonstrates they read a book, their name goes into the raffle for candy, coffee cards, or school apparel. The conversation, she notes, often ends up being more about what everyone is currently reading than the theme. This discussion-based format is great because students are talking about books and recommending them to one another.
Collectively, the media specialists at the high schools agree that reading for enjoyment is beneficial for so many reasons. Kelsey states, “Reading for pleasure has a myriad of benefits for teens, including lowering stress, improving overall mental health, increasing empathy, and developing language skills that are important for academic success.”
Through the reading challenges, the high schools are creating a community of readers. Kelsey has seen students “recommend books to each other, form mini book clubs, read outside their comfort zone, and discover new authors and genres they love.”
At the middle school level, students were encouraged to read books on the Golden Sower list. A committee of Nebraska teachers and library staff nominate books for this award, then the winners of each category are chosen by students who read the books. EPS students who read a certain number of Golden Sower books receive a prize. But, the middle school media specialists wanted to provide more opportunities to read for fun.
Lise Wagner, media specialist at Elkhorn Middle School, and the other middle school media specialists were approached by an EPS administrator last year to brainstorm opportunities to encourage reading in the middle schools. This push aligned with the overall goal of encouraging students to disconnect from their phones and devices.
Starting last school year and continuing this year, the middle school media specialists launched a reading incentive program for the second and fourth quarter where students read books based on prompts on a choice boards. This idea is loosely based on the reading choice board offered at the high schools. After reading three books, the middle school students get to participate in a fun culminating activity, which is cookies and cocoa for second quarter and an ice cream party for fourth quarter. If a student completes the full choice board, they receive a larger prize.
One motivator for media specialists, Lise said, “is to remind students that we can just read for fun. Reading is a joyful thing, and we just want students to get into books and try them.”
The Foundation has been providing funding for both middle school and high school reading incentive programs. Due to the success of these programs and overall mission to decrease screen time, this fall the Foundation increased the funding for the reading incentive programs.
The high school media specialists are still brainstorming ways to use the new funds, but they will increase the number of prizes awarded for participating in the reading challenge. Other ideas include larger prizes, hosting a breakfast halfway through the challenge for participants, ordering a book for participants, an evening read-a-thon, or other library experiences.
Lise nicely summarizes the reactions from media specialists at both levels: “The biggest thing is that [the extra funds have] given us permission to think of big ideas with the opportunity to impact all kinds of kids. We feel so supported in the goals that we have about pleasure reading and just getting kids to be in this environment that I think is so beneficial.”
Bids For Kids 2024 Recap
An Elkhorn Public Schools Foundation Fundraiser
Our 2024 Bids For Kids event raised more than $70,000!
Funds from this amazing event benefit EPSF’s Math & Reading Intervention and Classroom Grants programs.
Thank you to our Bids For Kids bidders, event attendees, donors, and sponsors! We couldn’t have hosted a successful event without your continued support! It is always amazing to see how the Elkhorn community comes together to support our EPS students and staff.
At the event, there were more than 150 in attendance who sipped on wine and beer from two Elkhorn businesses: Jukes Ale Works and Main Street Cellar. This was the first year of adding a beer and wine tasting element to the event, and it was excellent! Attendees could taste six hand-selected wine options and five craft beers. In addition to the beer and wine tasting, attendees enjoyed appetizers from A Catered Affair, chatted with people at the event, browsed the super silent display, bid on auction items on their phones, and supported an amazing cause.
Bids For Kids supports two key Foundation programs: Math & Reading Intervention and Classroom Grants. During the 2023-2024 school year, more than 400 elementary students received additional instruction through the before-and-after school clubs!
Julie Lentz, an elementary reading specialist, teaches an after-school math club for 2nd graders at Spring Ridge Elementary. “This extra time helps build confidence, while getting extra practice or even a preview of lessons coming up,” Julie said. “These students are able to work at their own pace, ask more questions, and for teachers to be able to give more feedback.”
Bids For Kids also helps fund the Foundation’s Classroom Grant program, which benefits students at every grade level. The goal of this program is to deepen the learning experiences offered to students and take some of the financial burden from teachers spending their own money on classroom materials.
Jennifer Hadley, an English teacher at Elkhorn High School, applied and was awarded a grant to purchase books for her AP Literature class. “I can’t thank you enough for the generosity,” Jennifer said. “I spend a lot of my own money on books, so it was nice to be able to share some with students that I didn’t need to purchase on my own.” These success stories would not be possible without your generosity!
Again, thank you so much for supporting your Elkhorn Public Schools students, staff, and the Elkhorn Public Schools Foundation!
Bids For Kids Pictures
Thank you to our Bids For Kids sponsors!
Alumni Spotlight: Philip Reedy
Written By Ann Huddleston, Alumni Relations
Every now and then, we may meet that one person whose stories and adventures are so fun and interesting that we will always remember “that one time when”… Phil Reedy is most definitely that person for his graduating EHS class of 1973. At Elkhorn, Phil had a perpetually curious mind and went on to nurture that curiosity by earning his PhD degree and then becoming a Chemistry professor in Stockton, California. He keeps himself busy with his hobbies, which include fly fishing and photography, which blend together nicely with some beautiful fly fishing action shots! In fact, in 2020 Phil was named California Outdoor Writer of the Year by the Outdoor Writer’s Association of California (OWAC) because of his photos published that year.
Q: What were some of your best memories while at Elkhorn High School?
A: My best memory from high school was acting and singing in My Fair Lady. When I was in elementary school the high school often put on plays and musicals, but it had been many years since they had done one. Thanks to the efforts of Band Director Herb Kaiman and Vocal Director Mary Sayre, it was a great success and so much fun for all of us who took part.
Q: What led you to study chemistry and get your PhD degree?
A: I still have an essay I wrote in third grade where I said that I wanted to be a scientist when I grew up. I didn’t know anyone with any interest or background in science at all, so my theory is that growing up at the dawn of the space age may have been the catalyst that set me on that path. The next year my parents bought me a chemistry set and the rest was history. I would take every spice and cleaning product my mom had and mix them with the chemicals in my set just to see what would happen. As I like to tell my students, I was a nerd before Bill Gates made it cool (see below). In 7th grade we had the most amazing science teacher, Dick Ackerson. He used to take me and a few others out on weekends to work on science activities and was very inspirational. A few years ago I tracked him down in Wyoming and showed up on his doorstep just to thank him for being such a wonderful teacher.
Like most boys ever, I mainly wanted to see if I could blow things up. We could get pretty nice firecrackers back in the 60’s, especially from Missouri. I always wanted to figure out how to make the explosive powder in those, and eventually succeeded in high school. It’s a miracle I still have 10 fingers, but that was sure fun. I was hooked on chemistry at that point and majored in it at UNL. From there I worked at Dow Chemical for six years in Michigan, but a vacation to California had my wife and I yearning to move out west. So, we loaded up the truck (U-Haul) and headed not to Beverly Hills, but Davis, a small town near San Francisco with a large university where I could work on my PhD. It was a great four years and I hated to leave and venture into the real world. Wanting to stay in California, I took a job developing laundry detergents at Clorox. While there I convinced the company to fund a science education program where we went to local schools and did science demonstrations. I found that much more rewarding that trying to create a detergent that did a better job than Tide at removing armpit stains from shirts and skid marks from underwear (I wish I were joking). The thought of spending my entire career doing that gave me the impetus to pursue my real passion of teaching others about chemistry. After two years at Clorox I landed my first teaching job at Monterey Peninsula College and never looked back. The best decision I ever made.
Q: What is it/has it been like teaching students at Delta College?
A: I have been telling my students for the past 35 years that teaching at a community college has to be the best job there is, joking that you actually get paid to blow things up. But seriously, it is a fantastic job. People often asked me why I didn’t teach at a university instead of a community college, and the answer is very simple. Any college student who took a science class at a large university knows that most of the teaching is done by graduate students whose skills are often marginal at best. University professors have to worry about obtaining grants and publishing papers, but at the community college level, our only responsibility is teaching. I retired two years ago, but still teach an online class every semester and will probably continue to do so as long as they need me. Below is a link to one of my classes.
Q: Can you tell me about your family?
A: My wife Jane and I have been married for 47 years now and have two sons. Sean is an accountant and father to our wonderful 3-year-old grandson Owen. We currently take care of him five days a week and love spending time with him. He loves to watch my chemistry demonstration videos on Youtube and I look forward to the time he is old enough to chemistry experiments with me. Our younger son Ryan is an Air Force pilot and currently a flight instructor in New Mexico. He will be getting married next year, so we may have more grandchildren in the not-too-distant future.
My parents passed away in 2010 and 2012, but I have to give them, especially my mom, credit for letting me do all of the crazy things I did in my youth. In the 60’s parent let kids take chances and explore new things. Some of those things I neglected to mention to them until I was much older, like the time I accidentally ignited a rocket I was building. It flew wildly around the basement, but luckily they weren’t home. By the time they returned I had aired out the house and they were none the wiser.
Q: How often do you get back to Elkhorn? Do you still have family here?
A: Since my parents passed, I don’t get back so often anymore. My wife still has her mother and brother living there, but that’s all the family we have left in Elkhorn. I do try to make all of our reunions and the 50th last year was a great time. I really enjoyed touring all of my old schools. Our kindergarten class of 1960 was the last to attend the old brick school which is now the administration building. When I do get back, the first thing I do is order a La Casa pizza, followed by a Little King #11 and a Runza. Can’t beat that Nebraska food.
Q: You clearly have an adventurous spirit, please share some stories with us! (hang gliding, fly fishing, etc..)
A: In that 3rd grade essay I mentioned before, I also said that I wanted to fly like Superman. I haven’t achieved that goal but was always fascinated with flight. I began building hot-air balloons in my parent basement when I was 14, and used to let them fly over Elkhorn in the evenings. More than once people thought they were seeing a UFO as the flame of the alcohol burner floated over town. From a humble beginning using dry cleaning plastic bags, by friend Mike and I eventually built a balloon 60 ft tall and 30 feet in diameter. It was so big that we convinced Larry Dlugosh, the high school principal, to let us use the gym to assemble it.
Back in 1972 the Readers Digest had an article about this new invention called a ‘hang glider’ that was being flown in Australia. Mike and I immediately ordered a set of plans from an ad in Popular Mechanics and set out to build one. Given our limited financial resources, we gathered what materials we could afford and set to work. By some miracle it actually flew and we managed not to kill ourselves over the next few years as we flew off the bluffs in Iowa. Until wingsuits came along, that was the closest one could get to soaring like a bird. It was amazing!
Q: How often do you go fly fishing? Where have you traveled to fly fish?
A: Over my lifetime, I have enjoyed many different hobbies and activities, including fly fishing. And when I began a new activity, I was passionate about it. Fly fishing was no exception. After catching my first fish on a fly back in 2003, I was hooked (pun intended). By myself or with a buddy, I would hit the water 50 times a year. I mainly fished in the Sierras but have travelled to many states from the Rockies to the coast. Fly fishing is a very peaceful pursuit, and I love the solitude of standing in a mountain stream watching my fly drift along, waiting for a trout to rise and take it.
Q: When did your interest in photography start?
A: A buddy and I drove to Colorado on spring break back in 1976, and I took along a borrowed Nikon Camera. It turned out that I loved taking pictures of nature, so immediately bought my first SLR camera and enrolled in a photography class at UNL. That was followed by a decade of landscape and wildlife photography in locations from our home in Michigan, to national parks all around the Western US, and farther afield to Europe and Australia. Like fly fishing years later, I was totally committed to it. When our first son was born in 1988, my focus (another terrible pun) was on taking pictures and videos of him. I didn’t get back into nature photography until I got a nice Canon digital SLR in 2013. Photography and fly fishing were a perfect combination, and I began to photograph friends fly fishing in the many gorgeous locations we have here in California. I had been reading fly fishing magazines for a number of years and admiring the beautiful photos gracing the covers. One day I decided to submit some photos, and to my amazement, the editor wanted one for his next cover. From that time on I spent less and less time fishing and more on fly fishing photography. Now my fishing trips consisted of dragging fly fishing buddies to the mountains to pose for me and I spent most of my time behind the camera. My 50th magazine cover photo was published the same month as my 50th high school reunion last year.
If you’re interested look at more of Phil’s photography, visit the links below:
Thank you to our generous Tornado Relief Fund donors!
We ❤ You!
Through the generosity of our donors, the Elkhorn Public Schools Foundation Tornado Relief fund raised more than $162,000 for EPS families severely impacted by the tornado. Thank you for donating to this amazing cause where all funds directly benefited EPS families for their general needs!
Elkhorn Public Schools’ administrators identified families severely impacted by the tornado and asked them to complete the Foundation’s Tornado Assistance form. Ultimately, 53 families received assistance from our two revenue sources: Tornado Relief Fund Donations and the City of Omaha Community Grant.
We received tornado relief donations from people in 20 different states including California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. In Nebraska, more than 135 people donated money to help their fellow Nebraskans. Truly, people rose to the challenge to help our Elkhorn families. The Foundation also received a $50,000 grant from the City of Omaha to help families impacted by the disaster.
During the aftermath of the April 26th tornado, the connection between the Elkhorn Public Schools Foundation and the Elkhorn community has strengthened. Together we’ve helped relieve some of the stress of our Elkhorn families whose lives were upended on April 26th. We will continue to support and care for our EPS students, and we are honored to help our Elkhorn community in its time of need.
Congratulations to our 2024 scholarship recipients!
This year EPSF awarded more than $568,000 in scholarships to 2024 EPS Seniors!
The Elkhorn Public Schools Foundation had the pleasure of awarding scholarships at the scholarship recognition ceremonies on April 23rd at Elkhorn South High School, April 24th at Elkhorn North High School, and April 25th at Elkhorn High School!
The Elkhorn Public Schools Foundation currently administers 125 unique scholarships on the behalf of Elkhorn families, businesses, and organizations. During the ceremonies, the Foundation awarded 212 community-funded scholarships worth $307,800 to Elkhorn Public Schools’ seniors!
We also awarded the NEW ACHIEVE Career & Technical Education (CTE) Scholarship to 32 seniors, totaling $35,050. The goal of this new scholarship is to encourage students to get a more expansive view of careers in the skilled & technical trades and provide opportunities for hands-on experience during their high school years.
Additionally, this year the Foundation awarded 214 ACHIEVE AP Scholarships, totaling $226,000. The ACHIEVE Advanced Placement (AP) Scholarship Program recognizes and rewards students who engage in academically rigorous coursework while maintaining balance in other areas of interest within our schools and community. We believe that exposure to core academic rigor, elective course sequences, community service and school activities will promote success during and after high school.
We are extremely grateful for our scholarship donors, our scholarship representatives, and our 112 volunteer selection committees who partner with the Foundation to provide these great scholarship opportunities for our Elkhorn students!
If you are interested in starting a scholarship, contact gchochon@elkhornfoundation.org.
Click the links below to be taken to see a complete listing of scholarships, recipients, and pictures at the three high schools. You can also view pictures from the ceremonies on our Facebook page!
