Daily Archives: October 30, 2017

River Falls’ “Sunshine Fund” honored at national character education conference

Stand Up for Public Ed,

River Falls

River Falls Journal: The River Falls High School Sunshine Fund earned a “Promising Practices” award, presented at a conference in Washington, D.C.

High school principal Kit Luedtke said the Sunshine Fund shows a display of “student compassion and empathy and caring for others in the community.”

“Our national promising practice award, I think, reflects that, that our kids are doing something different than what the norm is as adolescents, or as teenagers,” Luedtke said.

The Sunshine Fund is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit that offers financial assistance to River Falls School District families and “boots-on-the-ground” help such as raking leaves or mowing lawns.

The Sunshine Fund Board is made of students, mentored by community members.

Three of the students who went to accept the award, Shihab Adam, Macie VanNurden, and Riley Jahnke, said the best part of going to the conference was getting to share their ideas.

“Our main purpose going down there was just to spread our ideas, and actually just show people what we’ve accomplished and what we’ve created,” they said.

Read the complete article.

Algoma is nationally recognized with health and wellness award

Stand Up for Public Ed,

Algoma

WBAY.com: The City of Algoma is one of eight communities across the country to receive a national award for their efforts in health and wellness.

“Algoma was selected from over 200 applicants across the nation for this prize. So it’s a real honor and achievement,” says Julie Willems Van Dijk, Director, County Health Rankings Program, University of Wisconsin Population of Health Institute.

Algoma is one of the smallest communities in the country to have won the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s “Culture of Health Prize.”

“Often times people think that to build a culture of health, to make health possible in their community, it’s not easy to do, or it’s not even possible,” says Matt Trujillo, of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “But I think Algoma is a great example of what you can do when you really put health at the center of what you’re doing.”

It’s all thanks to the “Live Algoma” program, which works to promote health and fitness to all members of the community.

“One of the biggest assets of our community is our Community Wellness Center. Our biggest drive for the Community Wellness Center is really to be a hub of our community where young and old alike can really have that cross-generation relationship,” says Teal VanLanen, Community Activator Improvement Coordinator, Algoma School District. “We really just bring people together that have different aspects of our community and perspectives, so that, you know, we can have a shared vision.”

Read the complete article.