Lynn and Randy Nelson were joined by Dave Skogen, right, chairman of Festival Foods, as Randy Nelson was honored in January 2020 with a Richard Swantz Leadership Award from LPEF.
Retired Superintendent of Schools Randy Nelson and his wife Lynn created an endowment fund with the La Crosse Public Education Foundation in October of 2019 to generate annual grants to encourage physical fitness, or servant leadership skills and character development.
Randy Nelson retired in June 2020 after nine years as superintendent of La Crosse schools. He joined the District in 2008 as associate superintendent after many years as a teacher and administrator in Minnesota.
Lynn Nelson is a native of Westby and retired in 2018 after 35 years as a physical education teacher, most recently in Rochester, Minn.
“Together we have dedicated more than 70 years as public educators, and we are convinced that our future relies on healthy, high character students dedicated to serving others.”
The fund provides grants to teachers and others in La Crosse schools pursuing projects in the following categories:
- Physical education or physical fitness.
- Servant leadership, specifically programs that help students and/or school staff develop leadership skills focused on serving others, on inspiring and influencing people, on placing other people’s needs ahead of your own, or on learning to show respect and compassion.
- Character development and teaching values, such as patience, kindness, humility, respectfulness, selflessness, forgiveness, honesty and commitment.