Plummer recognized as Outstanding Entrepreneurship Educator
Many teachers say they teach for the children, not the pay. That statement makes the receipt of an award even more special.
By News Channel Nebraska
Tess Plummer, Associate Principal/School Counselor Grade 12 at Sidney High School, was recently recognized at the Nebraska Best Practices Summit in Kearney.
The award was presented by Jim Reiff, Executive Director of the Nebraska Enterprise Fund.
"This award is well deserved," said Sidney School District Superintendent Jay Ehler.
In addition to her role as assistant principal and Grade 12 Counselor at Sidney High School, Plummer is coordinator of the Career pathways program. She recently attended the Nebraska Best Practices Summit where she was presented the Outstanding Entrepreneurship Educator Award.
"Tess is the leader of our Career Pathways program at Sidney High School. This program has continued to grow because of Tess's work and the support we get from our community businesses. Our program has become a model for other schools to build around. We have many juniors and seniors at Sidney High School that get to experience internships and job shadowing with the businesses right here in Sidney. Tess was nominated by some of our local business people," Ehler said Thursday, Nov. 3.
The Nebraska Best Practices Summit gathers entrepreneurs, resource providers, economic developers, and educators to its annual summit. The one-day summit invites speakers from across the country to share best practices, success stories, entrepreneurial development trends and strategies and technology.
Plummer said the nomination came through the presentation to the E3 (Energizing Entrepreneurial Ecosystems) tour in Sidney in September. During the presentation, the three explained the Career Pathways program, and entrepreneurial programs taking shape at the high school.
E3 guests also toured the entrepreneurial and vocational classrooms in the high school, and the Raider Bus staffed with students provided coffee drinks for the event.
Plummer said the long-term goal is for students scheduled for graduation to undergo job shadowing and internships.
"Our entire [Career and Technical Education] CTE team has transformed the program," she said. "We've made it more of a system."
She said the school board and Superintendent Jay Ehler are very supportive of the CTE program. Plummer also credits Melissa Payne who teaches some of Sidney High School's career introduction/exploration courses.
According to the netforcenebraska.org website, recipients of the award should have made significant contributions toward the organization, implementation, development or evaluation of entrepreneurship education in Nebraska. The educator's achievements may be from one or more of the following areas: classroom instruction, community-based learning, mentoring programs, internships, and/or student organization leadership.