DANA EDUCATION ALUMNI EARN BIG HONORS

Three Dana alumni were awarded for their excellence in teaching in the Omaha area for the 2002-03 school year. Amy Hansen ’81 and Lynn (Norgaard ’69) Petersen became the seventh and eighth graduates of Dana to receive Alice Buffett Outstanding Teacher Awards. Paul Hundtoft ’76 was one of two teachers to earn The Phillip & Terri Schrager Foundation’s Distinguished Teaching Awards. The Buffett Awards, established by Omaha investor Warren Buffett, recognize outstanding teachers in the Omaha Public Schools with a $10,000 prize. The Schrager Awards also has a $10,000 award and go to outstanding teachers in Nebraska District 66 (Westside).

Hansen, who teaches second grade at Marrs Elementary, and Petersen, who teaches kindergarten at Jefferson Elementary, both found a common influence when they met at the awards banquet.

“We sat at the same table and all we did was talk about (former Dana education professor) Dorothy Olson,” Petersen said. Olson’s influence, along with the rest of their Dana education, has helped both teachers remain flexible and adjust to classroom situations no one could have predicted back when they were students at Dana. For instance, both are in schools stretching to meet the needs of an increasing number of students who didn’t learn English as a first language.

“At Dana we covered learning styles and being able to adjust to whomever we teach, wherever we end up teaching,” Hansen said.