Nebraska's First College: Shaping the Future since 1867

1867-2017

Nebraska’s First College SHAPING THE FU TURE SINCE 1867 DA N S U L L I VA N

1867-2017

Nebraska’s First College SHAPING THE FU TURE SINCE 1867

Nebraska’s First College SHA P I N G T H E F U T U R E SI N C E 18 6 7

BY DAN SULLIVAN DESIGN BY CHRISTINE ZUECK-WATKINS

DAN HANSON Peru State College President STAN CARPENTER Nebraska State College System Chancellor JASON HOGUE Director of Marketing and Communications TODD SIMPSON Peru State College Foundation Chief Executive FOUNDATION BOARD: Larry Green, Chairman SaraBeth Donovan, Vice Chair Cindy and Tim Hoffman, Treasurers Joyce Douglas, Secretary Jim Desbien Connie Edmond Elton Edmond Mike Guilliatt Pat Mertens Dr. Bill Snyder Al Urwin

Copyright 2017. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior consent of the publisher: Peru State College Foundation 600 Hoyt Street, P.O. Box 10 Peru, NE 68421-0010 Produced by the Omaha World-Herald.

First Edition ISBN: 978-0-692-88708-0 Printed by Walsworth Publishing Co., Marceline, MO

Foreword ERU STATE COLLEGE AND THE STATE OF NEBRASKA celebrate their 150th anniversaries in 2017. It’s no coincidence. The school played an important role in the state’s birth in 1867: Early lawmakers created the Nebraska State Normal School in Peru in exchange for support in making Lincoln the new state’s capital.

The fates of Nebraska and its first college remained closely intertwined in their early years. The need for qualified teachers exploded as settlement spread west across the prairie, and Peru provided the training.

By 1910, State Normal graduates were teaching in almost every county in Nebraska, from border to border, east to west and north to south. Peru also served as a starting point for significant academic careers, producing scientific researchers, social scientists and college presidents who would usher America into a modern age.

The hilltop school also established itself as a cultural center for the state’s swelling population. Major orators, musicians and dramatic works made their way to a stage in Peru. Early Nebraskans struggling to establish new lives on the rough-and-tumble frontier could enjoy uplifting events and know they hadn’t abandoned civilization when they headed west. The school dived into sports at an early age, initiating the state’s first unofficial college football team. It was a pioneer in women’s sports, and its alumni carried a competitive spirit with them to the school districts where they went to teach.

Trees have shaded the Campus of a Thousand Oaks since the early days of the school.

IV | FOREWORD

The school’s history has remained a reflection of the state’s. Peru and Nebraska have continued to grow and thrive as the decades have passed, although it has not always been an easy climb. The school has weathered its most adverse times during some of Nebraska’s most difficult periods. But Peru’s determination to continue its mission repeatedly found help from a supportive community in southeast Nebraska and Peru’s first principal, John M. McKenzie (kneeling, center), posed with students in 1888.

insightful political leaders.

Today, Peru State College

maintains its vital role in the state, continuing to enhance the region, serve beyond its own boundaries and send accomplished graduates into an exciting new world.

It’s clear that this “150” is more than just a nice, round number. It is a monumental accomplishment spanning generations of families, world wars, 38 presidential elections, droughts, blizzards, tornadoes, earthquakes and modes of transportation ranging from riverboats to jetliners. During that time, scores of institutes of higher learning fell by the wayside in Nebraska, but Peru stood fast, laying claim as the state’s oldest college.

Much has occurred during a century and a half. The educational tools have changed – from slate tablets to ruled notebooks to computers to smartphones – but not the commitment. Peru State College has never wavered from its vision of individualized education, involved students, dedicated faculty and an eye toward the world beyond campus.

The school has improved and reinvented itself as it pushed relentlessly in its journey from where it started to where it can be.

Peru’s first students planted trees around a single school building with a tarpaper roof. Today stands the Campus of a Thousand Oaks. Just down the road, satellite-guided tractors till Missouri River bottomland where teams of horses once pulled plows. Countless changes have occurred over 150 years. But in 2017, as in 1867, a beacon of learning shines brightly on a hilltop in Peru.

VI | FOREWORD

PART I , 1855-1882

A PA RT N E R SH I P T O L A ST

2 On the Path to Statehood

10 A Solid Foundation 14 An Expanding Vision

PART II, 1883-1917

A G O L D E N AG E

24 Looking Beyond the Classroom 32 Raising the Bar on Academics 46 Crowning Glory

PART III, 1918-1967

A WO R L D O F C HA N G E

70 Keeping Up With the Times 84 Stability at the Top 102 Peru Does Its Part 116 Crisis Management 132 Boom Times

PART IV, 1968-2010

C OM I N G T O G E T H E R

146 A Time to Be Heard 158 The Bobcat Spirit 170 A Time to Grow 178 Seeking New Solutions 190 Forging a New Era 210 Lessons Learned Up Close

PART V, PERU TODAY

B R I D G I N G PA ST A N D F U T U R E

214 Engaging a Campus 218 An Affordable Advantage 222 Pulling in the Same Direction 232 A Tradition of Innovation 240 Lessons Never Forgotten 246 A Platform for Winning 256 Uplifting Experiences 264 A Magnet for Young Minds 270 Reaching the World Beyond 278 An Economic Engine 286 A Stamp of Approval 298 Standing Like a Mighty Oak 302 Commencement 2017 308 Acknowledgments 310 Index

PART I

1855-1882

a partnership to last

“I find that in writing such a book, to make it pleasantly readable, it must be something more than an enumeration of events, actors and results. I place the book before you, hoping it may in some way stimulate the reader to renewed efforts to push the school forward to still wider fields of usefulness in giving the young teachers of the state higher ideals and a better preparation for their work.”

— John M. McKenzie, Peru’s first principal, writing for Peru’s 40th anniversary in 1917

On the Path to Statehood IONEERS BELIEVED they had found a good place to settle in the Nebraska Territory when they set foot on the west bank of the Missouri River upstream from Brownville. They arrived overflowing with ambition and carrying a vision of a long partnership with the river that separated southeast Nebraska and northwest Missouri. ­ The first settlement, Mount Vernon, was founded in 1855 on a hill above the Missouri River plain about 20 miles south of Nebraska City, but a new site was laid out closer to the water two years later. Some of the original settlers were from Illinois and named their new home Peru after a river town in their former state.

Businesses were established near the river, but a flood swallowed some of them and forced residents to pull back to a safer distance.

The towns sprouting up along the Missouri River ­– including Peru, Brownville, Bellevue, Nebraska City and Omaha ­– allowed Nebraska to become a gateway to the West.

Among those passing through was Thomas J. Majors, an 18-year-old from Jefferson County, Iowa, who headed to Pike’s Peak in search of gold – one of an estimated 200,000 who rushed to Colorado.

But by the time he reached Kearney, he began running into people who were traveling to the east – ­ busted, with no gold in their pockets.

Discouraged, Majors gave up his dreams of gold and headed back to Iowa. When he stopped in Peru, the merchant’s son noticed that while the settlement had become a thriving trading post, it lacked a store.

He returned home and gathered up some goods from his father’s store, then opened a mercantile business in 1859 in this promising new Nebraska community with a population of about 100.

2 | PART I

The Missouri River bustled with steamboats traveling north and south with cargo – assuring Peru’s fast growth.

The river served as an Interstate highway of the 19th century, heavily traveled by people who wanted to build a new life in the West. Among those stopping in Peru was abolitionist John Brown, who visited his supporters as he conveyed fugitive slaves north.

Traffic into town wasn’t limited to boats. Wagonloads of grain came from as far west as Tecumseh to be milled or shipped east. And trilling cowboys warned residents in the area that long-

The saloon in Peru was put to better use as a school building.

horn cattle from Texas ranches were on their way to cross the Missouri River.

As the town continued to grow and prosper, a small group of citizens pushed through a petition to license a saloon, but a year later a much larger group protested the renewal of the license. The saloon was closed and turned into a Methodist school, Mount Vernon Academy, in 1861. The new Nebraskans had chosen education of their young people as their priority, outweighing the need for a watering hole. The decision would turn out to be momentous.

PART I | 3

CHANGES WERE OCCURRING outside Peru as well. The Civil War had erupted, and Majors and other local young men enlisted in the 1st Nebraska Volunteer Infantry after President Abraham Lincoln’s first call for troops.

Others found their own ways to contribute to the war effort. Sawmill superintendent William Daily, acting on behalf of the Union government, visited Otoe Tribe members near Beatrice to discourage them from aiding the Confederacy.

Daily joined the Otoes as they traveled the Plains, and he witnessed a battle with a hostile tribe. Gaining the Otoes’ trust, he eventually convinced them not to go south but to return to the reservation. For his work, the government appointed Daily as Indian agent with the honorary title of “major.” His increased stature allowed him to stake out a political career, and he soon joined the territorial legislature.

The Reverend Hiram Burch

While the war raged hundreds of miles away, Peru citizens did their best to go about their business and to continue to build their new town. A Methodist pastor, the Reverend Hiram Burch, began collecting money for a new building, no doubt inspired by the work of his brother-in-law, John M. McKenzie, at the Nemaha Valley Seminary in Pawnee City.

Burch in 1865 sought help from Major Daily, who pledged $500 on the condition that the building instead be foremost a school. “If you will make it a school building, I will help,” Daily said. “We can use the school building for church purposes but cannot use a church for school purposes.”

Daily had little education himself, having been taught for only a few early years in a log schoolhouse with a chimney made of mud and sticks. He frequently was ridiculed by other politicians for spelling the town’s name “PrU.” He responded by telling a story of a man who

Dr. J.F. Neal

spelled “dirt” as “durt.” “If that don’t spell dirt, then what does it spell?” Daily would ask.

Dr. J.F. Neal, Daniel C. Cole and Joseph and Jane Loveless also came forward with their own contributions, including 60 acres of land on the hilltop south of town. “Very few at that time appreciated the beauty of the location,” McKenzie, married to Burch’s sister Charlotte, noted later. Local farmers pitched in money and, perhaps just as important, labor.

The effort exemplified the commitment to stay in this new land, since there were no public schools at the time. “The settlers were obliged to arrange in most cases for private instruction for their children,” McKenzie later wrote.

A meeting of local citizens passed a resolution that “a school of high grade is a pressing necessity, and the erection of a suitable building therefore advisable.”

Within a year Burch had gathered a total of $8,000. The founders laid the cornerstone in

Daniel C. Cole

1866 for the new brick building – 40-by-80 feet and three stories tall – while classes continued in the old saloon.

Competition was fierce among Nebraska Territory towns – many established in the Missouri, Platte and Elkhorn River Valleys – and a school was a means to signal that a community was flourishing. It also allowed religious denominations to get a leg up on membership in the new land.

4 | PART I

Dr. J.F. Neal, the Reverend Hiram Burch and Charlotte McKenzie donated the tract of land that would become the site for Mount Vernon College.

“The idea was that to ensure your economic future, you had to have a college or some sort of entity of higher education,” said James E. Potter, senior research historian at the Nebraska State Historical Society.

But opening a school was no small task. The impressive-sounding “Nebraska University” in Fontanelle, nine miles north of Fremont along the Elkhorn River, began operating a decade before Peru moved forward. While Nebraska University’s founders were full of the same dreams as Peru’s citizens, their school was gone by 1872.

Peru’s new school was one of more than 20 Nebraska colleges chartered by 1868, but it was the only one that would survive.

PART I | 5

FROM ITS HUMBLE BEGINNINGS, Peru’s school eventually took a permanent station on the hill. Mount Vernon Hall literally rose from the landscape around the area: The limestone for the foundation was quarried 2½ miles to the west, the bricks were fired in town, and the lumber was cut from native timber. The institution was referred to as Peru Academy and Peru Seminary before its founders settled on Mount Vernon College.

The school’s Board of Trustees appointed John McKenzie as principal – a position later called president. Wife Charlotte was named preceptress – a teaching position with duties similar to those of a dean of women. The McKenzies split the teaching duties for the 36 young men and women on the school’s roll, which included the familiar names of Burch, Daily, Neal and Majors. Charlotte handled rhetoric, grammar, geography and history, while John took mathematics, chemistry, natural science and Latin. The first of three terms, set for 13 weeks each, began on August 30, 1866. In addition, some younger children continued to receive instruction as they had since the saloon days.

John McKenzie had the added responsibility of seeing to the school’s debts, and at times he was forced to pay bills with his own money. The partially completed building had a tar paper roof, chosen because builders had believed a salesman’s pitch that it would provide protection.

“The first heavy rain thoroughly convinced all parties that it would not do,” McKenzie said later.

The building, such as it was, included space for classrooms, dormitory rooms and an apartment for the McKenzies. They and the students cut wood constantly during the winter to fuel the stoves in their rooms, and they frequently had to climb onto the roof to tack down the tar paper. None of the repairs could solve the roof ’s shortcomings. Tubs, pails and kettles collected water on the top floor whenever it rained, and classes at times were moved to neighbors’ homes when frigid weather made the building inhospitable to learning.

Students learned more than just their lessons. For young people with little exposure to life outside of farms and small towns on the prairie, it was a chance to learn how to act, dress and converse around educated people.

Mount Vernon Hall 1866 The three-story building, costing $8,000, was paid for by pledges from citizens in the Peru area and constructed on donated land. The cornerstone of the 40-by-80 foot building was laid in the spring of 1866. Work soon began to drag, however, because of difficulty in collecting some of the pledged money. At one point, the bricklayer refused to proceed without a personal guarantee that he would be paid after the work was completed. The Reverend Hiram Burch stepped forward to do so, and the work continued. The building had to be finished before the state would accept it in 1867 for the new normal school.

RULES FOR STUDENTS During the first school year, the Board of Trustees issued rules for the students: • Punctuality of all school studies.

• Respectful obedience to teachers.

Mount Vernon Hall stood near the site of the current Student Center.

Prayer meetings were held Tuesdays ahead of the appointed study time. No preference was given toward any particular religion, in spite of the school’s Methodist roots. John McKenzie said he emphasized “reverence for the Sabbath and the name of God” to his students, along with honesty, respect for the opposite sex and carrying out the Golden Rule.

Additionally, students were expected to be up at 5:30 in the morning and in bed by 10 at night.

The first term went well. “The students as a whole were obedient and studious,” McKenzie wrote. “No trouble was found in governing the school.” Later that year, two students were expelled for attending a dance without permission, but both were reinstated later.

McKenzie made certain that learning extended beyond the classroom.

A student recalled: “The first principal never failed to tell the seniors how little they knew about the great sea of knowledge that lay before them. In short, if they finished this school with an exalted opinion of themselves, it was not the fault of this plain old Scotch teacher.”

Another point was made very clear – namely, that “education didn’t consist of just so much ‘book learning’ ... there was a practical side of life that young people had better prepare themselves for while still in school.”

The students practiced teaching methods on each other and conducted classwork under the watchful eye of their instructor. While this method allowed the students to work on how to present their lessons, it provided scant help in dealing with classroom behavioral problems.

The McKenzies and their students made it through their first winter, only to have an earthquake strike in the spring. Charlotte McKenzie began leading younger children down the stairs as bricks shook loose from the building.

Her attempts to calm the students weren’t entirely successful.

“All at once, a young man, beside himself, rushed forward, leaped over Mrs. McKenzie’s head, and landed on a step some distance below, luckily uninjured, and went out the door like a shot,” John McKenzie recalled.

PART I | 7

• Diligent employment of time.

• Attendance in public worship on the Sabbath, unless excused.

• Declamation or composition once in two weeks, unless excused.

Forbidden were: • Absences from school without permission.

• Lounging about stores or saloons.

• Unpermitted association of the sexes.

• Clandestine correspondence or writing anything derogatory of each other.

The student wasn’t the only one to panic. A woman fled the building, forgetting her baby,

END-OF-YEAR OBSERVANCE Mount Vernon College marked the end of its first school year in 1867 with examinations, reporting, “The students all did well, no failures occurred, while many of the students really deserved to be commended.”

A program highlighting the students’ accomplishments followed the exams. The Nebraska Advertiser in Brownville took note of presentations on issues of the day: • “Benefits of a state over a territorial form of government” • “Right of suffrage to blacks” • “Right of women to vote”

but Tom Majors’ brother Wilson dashed up to the top floor and brought the infant down safely.

The excitement wasn’t over.

“That same day, the air was filled with clouds of grasshoppers,” John McKenzie recalled.

“How helpless is man, and how keenly he feels it, when the earth rocks beneath his feet, and the air is filled with destroying insects.”

The Peru school community was shaken again later in 1867, this time when McKenzie and the Reverend Burch traveled to Omaha to ask the Methodist Conference to assume support of Mount Vernon College.

The conference had already supported schools founded earlier, including one in the Plattsmouth area and the Nemaha Valley Seminary, where McKenzie had taught.

Having survived a decade that included a national financial panic, a brutal winter in 1861 that crippled the area’s economy and the Civil War, the conference declined to take on the costly responsibility for another school.

Peru’s school, left without official support and struggling for an identity, might have seemed destined to fail. But pioneer spirit, strong leadership and a vision of something special on the hilltop would prevail. The school wasn’t at its end, but rather at its beginning.

SHORTLY AFTER THE SCHOOL had begun its first term, Tom Majors started his own first term – as an elected member of the Nebraska Territorial Legislature in Omaha. He had mustered out of the Army as a lieutenant colonel, cited “for gallant and meritorious services during the war.” The leadership he had learned with the 1st Nebraska Infantry during the Civil War would serve him well during a career in politics. So would his combat skills. At one point, a mob rushed into the legislative chamber brandishing bottles.

Thomas J. Majors

• “Politics before the war”

“What do I do?” one legislator asked Majors.

• “Politics as they are”

When the legislator responded that he had no weapon, Majors handed him

“Chewing and smoking” also was among the presentations.

Tobacco usage was a hot topic at the time, and both chewing and smoking were banned on school grounds in 1870.

“Shoot the first man that tries to interfere with you,” he replied. one of the two guns he had brought. The session ended without bloodshed.

As a member of the first State Senate, Majors was in a position to help his friends and neighbors in Peru. The newly christened State of Nebraska was in the process of deciding the location of its new institutions – the most important being the capital city. Abel B. Fuller, a legislator from Ashland with support from powerful railroads, was a leader in the push to get the capital moved from Omaha to Lincoln.

Daniel C. Cole, one of the school founders and later a member of the State Board of Education, recalled how Fuller approached William Daily, by this time a state representative, seeking support to get the capital away from Omaha.

8 | PART I

“You have a school at Peru,” Fuller said to Daily. “If you pull hard for removal (of the capital from Omaha), I will see to it that Peru gets the normal school.” Daily took the offer to Majors, who initially had pushed to get the state university for Peru. However, they finally agreed that it was more likely that the University of Nebraska would join the capital in Lincoln and that the normal school was the best deal Peru could get.

The matter settled, Majors then asked Daily, “What’s a normal school?”

“Damned if I know,” Daily was said to have responded, “but if it has anything to do with education, I’m for it.”

Normal schools, later called teachers colleges, were popping up across America as it grew westward. It was either an exciting innovation or a new way to waste taxpayer dollars – depending on one’s viewpoint. “Normal schools at that time were considered an expensive experiment,” according to the Nebraska Education Journal.

Majors authored legislation establishing a State Normal School in Peru, “the exclusive purpose of which shall be the instruction of persons, both male and female, in the art of teaching, and in all the various branches that pertain to a good common-school education.”

The bargain with the state included that the building had to be free of debt and in good shape physically – leaving the founders of Mount Vernon College to shoulder the cost of finishing construction and repairs before turning it over.

With further support from Daily, who had helped two years earlier to get the Peru school off the ground, the legislation passed. And on June 20, 1867, the State of Nebraska had its first institute of higher education.

“Daily and Tom Majors had a good deal of pull,” Cole recalled years later. “Brownville had a much better school and a building that cost $20,000 and would have been glad to get the normal school, but Majors and Daily were on the ground and secured the plum for Peru.”

It turned out to be a plum for Nebraska as well. The new state had ensured that it would have highly trained teachers to educate its growing and spreading population. Settlement had pushed to about 100 miles west of the Missouri River by 1867.

The timing couldn’t have been better for Peru. The Missouri River changed course periodically during the 19th century, as heavy snowmelt or torrential rains upstream would crack it like a whip. One such flood had just changed the river’s course to the east, hammering home Peru’s doomed existence as a river port. The end of the steamboat era later would confirm it.

In addition, the Texas cattle bosses no longer were driving their longhorns across the Missouri River nearby, instead cutting short their journey north with stops at new railheads in the Kansas towns of Dodge City, Abilene and Wichita.

“Peru as a village, deserted by the river, would doubtless have remained static but for the fact of its being a gateway to a state school,” alumna Louise W. Mears wrote years later in her book Hills of Peru.

The settlers who came to Peru had found a reliable partner to help build upon their dreams.

But their partner wasn’t the river, it was their school.

PART I | 9

“From that small start, our normal school grew up.”

— Daniel C. Cole, writing in 1918

A Solid Foundation THE STATE ACCEPTED the 60-acre site and its new building on the Peru hilltop and Nebraska had its first college: the Nebraska State Normal School.

The first term began October 24, 1867, with about 70 students, just 32 students of whom were enrolled in the normal (teaching) department. The rest had first entered the school as

A LEADER IN EDUCATION

Mount Vernon College and were seeking a formal education without teaching.

State “normal schools,” to establish a norm in teaching, began appearing in the United States in the first half of the 19th century and gained popularity after the Civil War.

teacher in the schools of this state and agree that for three years after leaving the normal

Nebraska was noteworthy in establishing a normal school at the same time it entered statehood.

normal schools,” wrote Peru’s first principal, John McKenzie. The very act of creating a state

The school at Peru was just the third normal school west of the Missouri River.

They would spread quickly across the country, with a total of 180 in 42 states by 1910.

Those who chose to teach signed a pledge: “I hereby declare my intention to become a school, I will report in writing to the (Peru Normal) principal in June and December of each year where I have been and how employed.” The students practiced teaching methods on each other, with supervision from their instructors.

Peru’s rich history of progressive education began with its very inception. “The old sentiment that anyone can teach what he knows, without special training, so dominated society that few even among the educated men and women would admit the necessity of normal school was progressive for the time.

McKenzie recalled years later that some folks in the area questioned the idea of the school, thinking it was foolish to teach how to teach. But he noted that “no further pressure was needed” after tuition was lowered in exchange for allowing students to instruct local children before completion of their studies.

Nearby towns weren’t won over completely, however. The Brownville Nebraska Advertiser said, “We congratulate our neighbors and its delegation upon their success, yet doubt their making much out of the ‘swap’ (in the Legislature).”

Peru’s good fortune wasn’t without its costs. Thomas J. Majors, considered a Civil War hero, had used his considerable political clout to support those wanting to move the capital from Omaha to Lincoln. In exchange he had gotten the normal school for his beloved hometown, but he had made some political enemies in the process.

Doubts quickly faded as the school built up its library with donations of books, along with documents from the government. Equipment, including a microscope, was purchased with money raised at a chicken dinner and social.

“The school can no longer be regarded as an experiment,” Peru Normal proudly reported after its first year. “But while we rejoice in the success of the school, and commend the ability and untiring energy of the teachers, we cannot overlook the fact that they labor under many disadvantages.”

Perry M. Martin was added to the faculty and founded the Philomathean (Greek for “love of learning”) Society, modeled after those at other schools. Tom Majors’ brother Wilson was president of the literary society, which was Nebraska’s first and one of the earliest in the country.

10 | PART I

John and Charlotte McKenzie (front row center and right), with some of their students in the 1868-69 school year.

John M. McKenzie Principal, 1867-1871 McKenzie was educated at Union College in Albany, New York, and came west to teach at Upper Iowa College in Fayette, Iowa. In 1862, he moved to Pawnee City and founded the Nemaha Valley Seminary and Normal Institute with the help of his wife’s brother, the Reverend Hiram Burch. He used his skills at launching a new school to help create Mount Vernon College in Peru. He was a natural choice to lead Peru State Normal when it began classes a year later. McKenzie later became the state’s second superintendent of public instruction and wrote most of Nebraska’s school laws, leaving his mark on every branch of public education. He returned to Peru Normal in 1879 to teach mathematics, bookkeeping and astronomy and oversaw the construction of the school’s observatory.

PART I | 11

The society, open to both men and women, met on Friday evenings and provided literary readings each day during chapel exercises. The society gave the students a forum for literary discussions, hosted debates on topics of the day and provided a venue for musical performances.

A second group, the Everett Literary Society, was added several years later to attract freshmen, and debating societies were formed for both men and women.

With emphasis on debate and free discussion of ideas, life at Peru was quickly expanding beyond the classroom. Tom Majors so strongly favored the school that he himself attended JOHN H. MILLER Early student

classes for a year, and his father, Sterling P. Majors, eventually was named to the State Board

Miller, an AfricanAmerican Civil War veteran, apparently was among the first students at Peru State Normal.

While the school has no record of his enrollment, brothers Wilson and Thomas Majors mentioned his attendance at Peru when they signed affidavits in 1903 supporting his application for veterans benefits. The Majors brothers had served with Miller in the 1st Nebraska Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. Miller marked an “X” when he enlisted in 1864 but signed his name later in life.

appointed by the state’s superintendent of public instruction and later by the governor.

of Education. Members of the board, later known as the State Normal Board, originally were Peru State Normal, which began as a Methodist school, did not abandon its spiritual roots.

The McKenzies recognized that the early students didn’t feel that the local church services were their own, so they continued to conduct Tuesday night prayer meetings at Mount Vernon Hall.

The meetings were popular and became part of the social fabric of the school.

Getting the school up and running wasn’t without setbacks. McKenzie purchased a bell to summon students, but it broke one frigid morning while being used to call the girls to morning chapel services. A chicken dinner helped raise the $125 needed for a replacement, a good investment for a bell that would still be signaling sports victories more than a century later.

The school passed its first milestone in the spring of 1870 with the graduation of George Elliott Howard and Anna “Annie” Moorhead. Their diplomas, Peru Normal’s first, authorized them to teach in Nebraska’s public schools.

Alumna Louise W. Mears wrote in Hills of Peru: “The first commencement ... must have been attempted in its simple beginnings because two or three people could dream dreams, and could see far beyond the small group of earnest souls gathered together upon the shadeless prairies to something vastly more real and imposing. Whether they reared in their imagination a picture of acorns grown into giant trees and piles of brick and stone, we do not know, but one thing is certain – a great ethical principle was stirring.”

Acorns growing into giant trees was an appropriate image, because the school’s early students had planted trees and shrubs that would provide a welcoming canopy on the hilltop for years to come.

The value of a Peru diploma was apparent from the beginning.

Howard taught school several years, then studied at the University of Nebraska and later at universities in Munich and Paris. He eventually returned to Lincoln and became the state university’s first professor of history. He later headed the history department at Stanford University before returning once again to NU to head the political science and sociology departments.

Moorhead also taught school after graduation, then married W.A. Joy and raised a family.

She never forgot the impact of a Peru education, though, and sent several of her children to the school. Her grandchildren followed. And great grandchildren. She was the first of five generations to graduate from the school on the hill.

12 | PART I

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

ANNA MOORHEAD JOY Class of 1870 Moorhead taught for several years, then married W.A. Joy and raised a family. Four later generations of Joys followed her in graduating from Peru.

The 1870 course of study included the declaration of intention to teach in Nebraska.

GEORGE HOWARD Class of 1870 Howard became an internationally known expert on the evolution of society during his distinguished teaching career at Stanford and the University of Nebraska.

He was an outspoken proponent of the expansion of women’s roles.

He also helped found the Nebraska Historical Society.

PART I | 13

An Expanding Vision PERU NORMAL LOST John McKenzie in early 1871, when he was chosen to be the state’s first superintendent of public instruction and was replaced by Henry H. Straight. McKenzie continued to be a towering figure in Nebraska, as the demand for quality education exploded along with the population.

The number of students in the state grew from 32,619 in 1870 to 41,063 in 1871. The rush to expand westward meant the state’s total schoolhouse count of 517 included 109 made of logs and 27 of dugout and sod construction. McKenzie was credited with writing most of the state’s school laws during this time, and his systems and rules were followed for decades to come.

Even without him, Peru pushed onward and upward, in 1872 beginning work on Normal Hall, 3½ stories tall with a 90-foot-high bell tower. The view took in the countryside of Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, and some said you could even see as far as Kansas. It was a fitting symbol for a school with far-reaching vision. The appropriation for the building had been steered through the Legislature by Tom Majors in the Nebraska Senate and by his father in the Nebraska House.

“The erection of this building assured the permanence of the school for many years,” J.W. Searson wrote in the Nebraska Education Journal. The new structure, which became known as “the Main Building” and later “Old Main,” opened in 1873.

It featured recitation rooms and an apartment for the principal. Its completion allowed the original college building to be converted into a dormitory for 40 young women.

Henry H. Straight Principal, 1871 Straight, a graduate of Oberlin College in Ohio, was considered an influential educator.

He pushed to include science as a basic school subject, especially in the elementary grades, and advanced the development of modern methods of instruction. He served for just 10 months, however. “His enthusiasm and new methods of presenting the subjects he taught brought new life for a time into the school,” John McKenzie wrote later. “But he was eccentric. Character building is, after all, the important qualification, and an eccentric educator usually fails in that line more than any other.”

Straight remained at Peru Normal as a science teacher until 1873, when he left for Central Missouri Normal School at Warrensburg. He also later taught at normal schools in Chicago and New York.

14 | PART I

Normal Hall’s tower became a familiar landmark to travelers and a symbol of the school’s permanence. It was located where Hoyt Science Building is today.

Normal Hall 1872 A legislative appropriation of $28,000 allowed work to begin on Normal Hall in the summer of 1872. The building stood 3½ stories tall, and its tower stood 90 feet above the ground — high enough for visitors to see across the river into Missouri and Iowa. The building, which became known as “the Main Building” and later “Old Main,” opened in 1875 and featured an apartment for the principal.

A south wing built in 1885 added recitation rooms, a chapel and laboratories. The south wing was removed in 1917 to make way for the current auditorium. The rest of Normal Hall was torn down in 1928 to build the current Hoyt Science Building.

Even though McKenzie had left, another strong leader emerged when Eliza Morgan joined Peru as preceptress. While her role included teaching literature, rhetoric and history, her greater impact might have been in shaping the college experience for the school’s young women.

She started by turning the sparsely decorated dormitory rooms into pleasant homes for the girls.

“When Miss Morgan took charge of the ladies’ dormitory,” McKenzie later wrote, “it was in a decidedly plain, not to say rough, condition. The rooms were poorly furnished.”

“Her first thought was to secure at slight expense, rugs or carpet, or oilcloth for the floor, Eliza Morgan

and neat inexpensive curtains for the windows, and a few pictures, plants and bric-a-brac to make the rooms inviting and pleasant.”

But Morgan also ran a tight ship and expected her girls to care as much about their accommodations as she did. “While she was gracious to those who were prompt and diligent in their duties, she could be stern and strict with those who were careless and dilatory regarding the condition of their rooms,” McKenzie wrote.

A.D. Williams Principal, 1871-1872 Williams, a graduate of Hamilton College in New York, was a clergyman of the Free Will Baptist Church who came to Peru after serving as president of West Virginia University and as superintendent of public instruction for the State of West Virginia. The State Board of Education had sought a principal who was “broad in knowledge, wise in dealing with students, elevated in his ideals of life and strong to impress on the life and character of his pupils.” Unfortunately, Williams was away from Peru while getting his family settled and was then forced to run a school diminished by illnesses among faculty members. The board removed him after one year, and he moved to Adams County, Nebraska, where he later founded the Kenesaw Times.

16 | PART I

Students who lived at homes in Peru traveled wooden sidewalks on 6th Street on their way to and from classes.

Preceptress Eliza Morgan insisted that male students walk on the opposite side when with female companions.

She also kept a keen eye on the dating scene, allowing a girl to accompany a young man only after receiving a formal, written invitation – which first had to be passed through the preceptress’s hands. No young man could come within 10 feet of a young woman when on the street or campus. When seeing a friend home in the evening, he was to walk on one side of the road and she on the other.

The male students boarded at local houses for about $3 a week. “Fully half of the young men and young women did their own cooking,” Thomas Blackburn, class of 1878, later wrote, “and the young man whose sisters were in school with him was especially fortunate.”

Social life was improving, as the school sponsored monthly get-togethers that featured card games, music, readings and charades.

Thomas J. Morgan Principal, 1872-1874 Morgan, a graduate of Franklin College in Indiana, was minister of the Brownville Baptist Church and had retired from the U.S. Army as a general. He was familiar to members of the State Board of Education, which had been burned by outside recommendations on its previous two hires. Morgan changed admission policies to require that “candidates for admission who are not personally known by the principal be required to furnish certificates of good moral character.” He also began a summer school program for teachers who could not receive instruction in education during the regular school year. He resigned to become a professor of church history at the Baptist Union Theological Seminary in Chicago and later served as principal at state normal schools in New York and Rhode Island.

PART I | 17

S.R. Thompson Principal, 1875-1877 Thompson, a graduate of Westminster College in Pennsylvania, was named principal after two previous selections to succeed Thomas J. Morgan failed to last more than a few months each.

He came from the new Agricultural College in Lincoln, where he had served as a professor and the first dean. He brought strict regulation and efficiency to Peru Normal, reorganizing the model school and giving the faculty more systematic directions for their work. “Each pupil who associated with him realized that he was a true companion and friend of the student,” J.L. McBrien said later in a report on public education in Nebraska. “The student unconsciously yielded to his influence.”

Thompson succeeded John McKenzie as state superintendent of public instruction.

Seniors began practice-teaching with local children. The faculty continued to grow with enrollment, which reached more than 170 in the training department and more than 100 in the State Normal School.

Lessons were long and arduous. A Peru student wrote a friend about her new school: “It is first rate, splendid, and just real good. I have only three studies and that is as much as I can manage, the lessons are so long, and not being used to having to study so hard, it is almost out of the question to have perfect ones.”

Peru Normal students, circa 1875. Principal S.R. Thompson, fourth from the left in the back row, held a microscope for the photograph.

18 | PART I

New Gateway to Peru A MIDLAND PACIFIC RAILWAY line reached from Nebraska City to Peru in 1875. The railroad improved access to the school, allowing young people from a much wider area to attend the State Normal School.

A horse-drawn dray would carry the students’ belongings up and down the steep hill that led from the railroad station to campus.

“In the fall of the year, before the opening of school, wagons of household goods traveled the roads to Peru... and then there were the students arriving by train.

Each day when the shriek of the whistle, echoing from the encircling hills, announced the approaching train, townspeople began to walk leisurely toward the little red depot.”

— Louise W. Mears, in Hills of Peru

Robert Curry Principal, 1877-1883 Curry came to Peru Normal from the post of deputy state superintendent of public instruction in Pennsylvania. His wife, Jennie, also joined the staff as teacher of language and arts. The transition from S.R. Thompson was smooth, as Curry’s methods and philosophy were nearly identical. Curry believed that social life was an important part of education. He worked to expand the offerings of the school’s literary societies and sponsored receptions in his parlors. His resignation caught the school by surprise. “He shrank instinctively from the effort to induce the Legislature to provide better and more commodious buildings,” according to a report on public education. “He felt it his duty to retire and give the position to another whose ambition would ... mold the educational life of the state.”

PERU NORMAL made steady progress during its first decade, in spite of the instability resulting from the succession of five short-term principals.

Robert Curry’s arrival in 1877 finally brought some stability to the school’s leadership.

He believed in structure: During his tenure, classes were 40 minutes long, and at the end students would change rooms for their next class, accompanied by a pianist. He also gathered students on Tuesday evenings for prayer meetings and provided religious guidance.

In addition, Curry oversaw improvements to the hilltop campus.

State Normal faculty members in 1882: Front row, from left, Alice E. Daily Gowdy, Robert Curry, Jennie Curry, Eliza Morgan. Back row from left, Professor A.K. Gowdy, Professor H.L. Grant, Professor E.M. Lippitt and Professor John McKenzie, who was the school’s first principal.

20 | PART I

Thomas J. Majors pushed a bill through the Legislature to charge students a $5 matriculation fee to pay for more books for the library, whose meager collection had been supplemented by the faculty’s private libraries. It was the only tuition students were charged at the time.

A diploma from Principal Robert Curry’s final graduating class.

While Majors continued to be a strong supporter of the school, his old friend William Daily was stepping away, leaving the Normal School Board in 1875 after 10 years.

McKenzie summed up Daily’s role in the school’s beginning, “Already we have spoken of the earnest, efficient and successful efforts that Mr. Daily put forth in the early history of the school, and we still think that the existence of the school owes more to the ... efforts of Mr. Daily than to any other one man. It was in the day of small things, when poverty dwelt in nearly every household, when the country was almost an uninhabited wilderness that he saw the possibility of securing facilities for the better and broader culture of the rising generation, that he gave his thought to others, who with his aid and inspiration put them into a tangible form by building and organizing a school.”

William Daily

At the same time that Daily was leaving, McKenzie himself was returning to the school to teach mathematics, bookkeeping and astronomy. He surveyed the bell tower view of three states and apparently decided that it wasn’t enough for Peru, so he saw to the construction of a small telescope and observatory.

A 5-inch telescope was purchased later for an even larger domed observatory fashioned from brick and red elm lumber. McKenzie and students took pictures of sun spots that were later displayed at the New Orleans Exposition in 1885. While the observatory eventually was torn down, the telescope would never leave the hill: It is displayed in the library.

The vision that had guided Peru Normal from the start was as clear as ever, and new horizons awaited.

PART I | 21

PART II

1883-1917

a golden age

“While much and great good has been already accomplished, there is certainly much yet to be heard from the flourishing school.”

— The Reverend A.C. Gearhart, chaplain of the Nebraska Senate, 1892

Looking Beyond the Classroom

BY THE TIME Robert Curry left in 1883 after six years at the helm, school enrollment had grown to 318. His successor, George L. Farnham, would bring a similarly ambitious approach, but he would do more than build enrollment. He would begin the transformation of the prairie school into a vibrant college filled with activities, rigorous academics and noble pursuits.

Farnham, who had been Council Bluffs schools superintendent, quickly began a push to build a Chapel Annex on the south side of Normal Hall, a steam heating plant and a well-andpump system to bring water up the hill from where athletic fields would later be situated.

The students at last had running water, which came in handy later that year. A visitor enjoying the spectacular view from the Main Building bell tower carelessly dropped a cigar that started a fire.

Fortunately, Lydia Bell, a Peru student, spotted the fire and summoned a bucket brigade to end the threat.

The Chapel Annex included an auditorium that would seat 400, and two adjoining rooms could be opened to handle an even larger audience.

A gathering of 600 filled the hall in 1890 to hear students present a musical program as part of an appearance by congressional candidate William Jennings Bryan. The future presidential candidate Normal Hall’s Chapel Annex featured a recitation room to the side of the auditorium.

spoke for two hours on issues of the day.

George L. Farnham Principal, 1883-1893 Farnham was the author of The Sentence Method of Teaching, which he had written and researched during his tenure with public schools in Binghamton, New York. The book advocated teaching students to read by groups of words and thoughts, rather than by individual words. He also was interested in science and encouraged students and teachers to collect and mount zoological specimens of different varieties. He insisted that the school add teaching tools such as microscopes, along with equipment to study the quickly developing technologies of light and electricity.

He was popular with the students and admired by the faculty for his knowledge in the field of education. Farnham served for 10 years, the longest term of any principal to that point.

24 | PART II

The Legislature appropriated funds in 1889 for a library to hold the school’s growing collection, and the books were on the shelves a year later.

The collection included 5,549 books, 750 public documents, 275 pamphlets and a number of magazines. The Omaha World-Herald reported in 1891 that the Peru library was “pronounced by many to be one of the best in the west.”

No longer just a single building on a hill, the grounds were beginning to have the feel of a college campus. Classwork could be completed outside under shade trees planted by the first students. In addition, Farnham encouraged

The school’s library had more than 5,000 books in its collection by 1890.

faculty and students to roam about the river’s edges to collect zoological specimens and mount them for display at the school.

Students were enjoying school life, perhaps a little too much. A Peru resident, Frank Griffith, complained to the justice of the peace that young men who had rooms above his family’s living quarters “persist in spending the night in such hilarious sport that his family is unable to sleep and the pictures are often shaken from the wall.”

Principal Farnham was particularly vexed by a student named James W. Crabtree, who was reported to be “clever in enlisting ‘stooges’ from among the newer boys” to carry out his pranks.

One Halloween night Crabtree established an alibi at the home of a respected local family while he put his “stooges” to work. While getting into mischief, the boys loudly called to Crabtree, even though he was not with them. A Peru teacher heard his name called and accused him the next day, but Crabtree produced his alibi. Farnham was then compelled to order the teacher to apologize to the young rascal.

Library 1889 The Legislature approved funds in 1889 for the wooden structure to provide a permanent home for Peru Normal’s collection of books. An appropriation of $3,000 allowed the library’s resources to expand even further in 1891.

The structure was doubled in size and given a brick veneer when it was converted into a science building in 1904 as work began on a new library.

The building was remodeled once again and given a new entrance in 1936 – after the completion of Hoyt Science Building – and converted into a musical hall. It was torn down in 1963 to make way for the Jindra Fine Arts Building.

James W. Crabtree

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Another mischief maker, Dexter Ashley, was involved in an episode of “snipe hunting” with one of his fellow students. He instucted some of the town boys to take the student out into the willows along the Missouri and give him a burlap bag to catch the fictitious prey. The student held the bag open while the town boys made a ruckus to “frighten the snipe” into running toward the bag. The voices began to trail off, however, and the student realized he’d been tricked. He managed to find his way back to campus and blamed Ashley for the stunt.

Fellow students decided to teach the local boys a lesson and paraded up and down the street in town in a show of bravado. The march was so impressive that the students decided to form into a company of military cadets in 1888. Ashley, who was chosen as captain, learned that a Peru butcher, Charles Wey, had served in the German army before coming to America,

DEXTER ASHLEY Class of 1890 Ashley went on to medical school and became a prominent surgeon in New York City.

He received widespread attention in 1902 for a “bloodless operation” on Barbara Armour, an heiress to the meatpacking company fortune.

The procedure allowed the disabled girl to walk normally.

and the company had a drillmaster.

Eventually, Professor Henry Duncanson took sponsorship of the Normal Cadets, who drilled several times a week with target practice.

While the boys received physical training and discipline, they also found an opportunity to hold social functions to impress young ladies. And where there’s marching, there must be music. The cadet program joined with the student band, which was under the direction of Peru merchant T.E. “Ed” Vance, to form the official school band in 1889.

The students received uniforms to enhance their appearance and boost morale, but the musical merger with the cadets didn’t go well at first.

One student wrote: “As is always the case in the organization and maintenance of school bands, this band has considerable trouble in keeping together a sufficient number of competent musicians to make the enterprise a success ... over half the band

Ashley also treated actor Lionel Barrymore, who portrayed “Mr. Potter” in the film “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

must consist of persons who have never had the least experience in band music.”

But eventually the band was a huge success under Vance, who impressed audiences with his ability to play almost any instrument. Nebraska audiences also were mesmerized by Vance’s saxophone, an instrument many of them A state letter authorized the cadets.

26 | PART II

had never seen before.

Normal Cadets THE CADETS WERE MORE THAN just a campus activity at the time of their formation. State militias and the Nebraska National Guard, which had been established just seven years earlier, were in need of manpower. Military academies and units like the Peru Cadets could provide “a pool of young men that might transition into some of the more formal companies,� said James E. Potter, senior research historian at the Nebraska State Historical Society. The cadets typically would learn about arms and tactics in the first semester, then put their knowledge to work in the second semester with skirmish drills, formations, wall scaling and extended marches. The creation of the Reserve Officer Training Corps in 1916 ended the need for a cadet program.

A Cultural Center PERU REGULARLY HOSTED EVENTS that drew people from across southeast Nebraska to campus. A newspaper noted that a recital in 1894 “drew a large and appreciative audience of music-loving people.” Politics also was popular.

An 1894 audience of 500 heard speakers address “the rottenness in the management of state institutions.”

William Jennings Bryan was a frequent speaker on campus.

Peru State Normal band performances were a staple for events at the auditorium in the Chapel Annex of Normal Hall.

No record could be found of a dog taking part in the performances, but one posed with members for a photo.

A LEADER IN EDUCATION State “normal schools” continued to spread across the United States during the late 19th century. The total would reach 180 in 42 states by 1910.

PERU NORMAL’S STUDENTS actively pushed forward with their efforts to improve campus life, but they also turned their vision to the larger world.

Chapters of the Young Men’s Christian Association and Young Women’s Christian Association, both dedicated to ministering to students away from home for the first time, encouraged the young people to see beyond the hilltop.

Students could meet daily for prayer, followed by a report on the news of the previous day presented by a senior class member. The organizations also gave some students their first lessons in leadership.

“It is here, with only the ‘girls’ to hear her make her first remarks in a public meeting, or repeat her first scripture verse, that she comes by degrees to throw off those restraints which have so long controlled her,” a YWCA member wrote.

A YMCA report noted, “We cannot all be leaders, but each may be well-drilled and thoroughly equipped, armed with the sword of the spirit and able to stand in the time of need.”

Peru students indeed were ready to lend their efforts for greater causes.

In 1889, they collected $100 – a large sum at the time – to help victims of the tragic flood in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

A few years later, a missionary visiting from China was pleased to receive a $30 donation from Peru students to sponsor the education of a young Chinese girl. The missionary named the girl “Hope Normal” in honor of those who helped. “Hope Normal is growing up a fine girl,” the missionary later wrote the students. “You will be doubly repaid for all that you have done for her.”

Students also turned their attention to other pursuits, expending their youthful energy on activities, including sports.

PART II | 29

The state’s need for trained teachers continued to grow.

Historian Frederick Luebke wrote that communities considered a school district to be “a symbol of identity.”

Nebraska had more than 5,000 school districts by 1888, fueling the need for even more teachers.

The state was on its way to claiming the most districts of any state in the nation.

The state’s first unofficial college football team was long on enthusiasm but short on equipment.

The young men were eager to put their abilities to the test in football, but the school at first would not sanction the roughhousing sport. A nearby pasture provided a field for informal games beginning in about 1885, and the students soon were proudly boasting of the state’s first unofficial college football team.

Next came baseball. In 1891, second-year student J.G. Yont put together a team that lost 16-2 to an opponent. “Although the owner of this nine played very hard himself as shortstop, it requires entirely too much time to lie down and roll over the ball in order to stop it, and the runners meandered leisurely from base to base while the aforementioned gentleman was picking himself up,” according to a newspaper account. In spite of the unsuccessful outcome, Yont scheduled another game.

Later that year, the Philomathean Society put on musical programs and introduced mock trial to campus. The first fictitious legal case involved a young lady who was suing a young man for $50,000 for breaking an engagement.

Thomas J. Majors, by then the state’s lieutenant governor, served as mock-trial judge.

The Majors family continued to provide heavy political support for Peru Normal. Tom’s brother Wilson, a Peru graduate, had taken a spot on the State Board of Education, as their father had before him.

Football began on a more formal basis in 1892.

A Peru team coached and captained by R.D. Moritz took the field against a squad from Nebraska City.

The Burlington and Missouri Railroad later arranged a special train for a game against Omaha High (later Central). Peru players returned home with injuries that included a broken ankle, a dislocated arm and a broken rib. Omaha won 26-6, although there were suspicions The first authorized State Normal football team took the field in 1892.

30 | PART II

that some of the Omaha players weren’t students.

THE SCHOOL, STILL ONLY a quarter of a century old, was thriving.

The Reverend A.C. Gearhart, chaplain of the Nebraska Senate, visited Peru and came away impressed. “To our mind, no more healthful or beautiful site could have been selected. ...

During a recent visit to the school, we were greatly amazed at the attendance and full of admiration for the management and the system of instruction. We found over 500 pupils in attendance and have rarely been permitted to look into such an array of intellectual faces.”

Gearhart also was impressed by the teaching process at Peru: “The plan of instruction is based upon the object method, as those attending are teachers preparing for future work.

The school is immensely practical, with each teacher or student given a class in which part of the time village children are brought in. The moral and religious atmosphere is commendable in the extreme, as great care is exercised in the matter of the correct morals, if for no other reason than it is one of the essential qualifications of the successful teacher. ... While much and great good has been already accomplished, there is certainly much yet to be heard from the flourishing school.”

The push for normal schools in other communities, including Omaha, had caused enrollment at Peru to dip for a period, but by the time George Farnham left in 1893, the school had rebounded.

He had overseen tremendous Local engineer George Pettit steamed red elm lumber to bend for the observatory’s dome. His son Edison’s fascination with the telescope led to a career that included a position as astronomer at Mount Wilson Observatory in California.

growth at the school, most apparent in the brick-and-mortar changes.

The campus included Mount Vernon Hall, the school’s first building; Normal Hall and its annex; the heating plant; the library; and the observatory.

Farnham left his mark as an educator, having been considered an authority in the use of psychology in the classroom. He also was credited with raising the profile of teaching in the state, giving Peru grads a boost in pride for their degrees.

His tenure also had marked the blooming of a full range of extracurricular activities.

Students later spoke fondly of Farnham’s years. “In him, all connected with the school, whether as student or teacher, felt a just pride and entertained a genuine affection. He was ‘great’ as a man, as an educator and as a citizen. ... His personal interest in the students resulted in the filial affection entertained for him by them – none knew him but to honor and to love him.”

Peru’s academic reputation had been enhanced, and its student body – up to 556 in 1894, two-thirds (382) women – had become more actively engaged in campus life. Peru never again would be simply a means to obtain a diploma. Students’ experiences with events and activities would forever be part of their memories of life on the hill.

PART II | 31

PERU’S NEWS IS FIT TO PRINT Beginning in 1892, Peruvians could follow events at their school in The Normal Courier.

“It is by the urgent request of our friends and fellow students that the Normal Courier is ushered into existence,” the newspaper boldly announced in its first issue.

The paper contained lofty essays about what makes a good teacher and reports from educators on various topics in their field.

Science professor Henry Duncanson even provided a description of calisthenics to perform in the classroom.

“The large majority of children of present day are weak, and those are the ones who need help,” he wrote.

The school newspaper, later called The Normal Journal, The Normalite and The Pedagogian, today is called The Peru State Times.

Raising the Bar on Academics THE CURRICULUM AT the State Normal School steadily progressed from the early days of studies under a tar paper roof on the Peru hilltop. Classes had become more regimented and studies more challenging, but the program in some ways still had not completed the transformation from a prairie schoolhouse into a college.

A. Wellington Norton’s arrival as principal in 1893 marked the beginning of bigger changes that would put the school in step with national advancements in higher education.

Norton had come to Peru from the Oswego, New York, Normal School, the first such school in the country and the leading proponent of new educational methods that would help to lift teaching toward the status of a profession.

He immediately laid out a plan to increase “the school’s efficiency” and to revamp its curriculum.

“Education is easily acquired by the trained mind,” Norton said. “Once a student has acquired power over himself, he can learn anything, or do anything, he may set out to do.

“To triumph over whatever obstacles may arise, to act quickly and wisely – these are what mark the cultivated mind,” he said. “I believe that the student should be taught to meet each day’s exigencies and to acquire the ability to meet them bravely and well.”

Thomas J. Majors

The Omaha World-Herald reported: “President Norton has been here only a few months, but he has been here long enough to convince the alumni that the school is entering a new era of prosperity.”

Norton began a summer school to help his instructors receive more training and impressed the University of Nebraska enough with improvements to accept credits from Peru in psychology and ethics. He was a strong proponent of the practice school method of learning to teach and increased the emphasis on students overseeing classrooms under the watchful eye of their instructors.

A. Wellington Norton Principal, 1893-1896 Norton came to Peru from the staff of the Normal School at Oswego, New York, the nation’s first teachers college. He emphasized that teaching was learned best in practice, rather than in theory, and that education students benefited greatly under the watchful eye of a veteran teacher.

His concern over the health of the students led to the construction of wells near the Missouri River that pumped water up the hill to campus. The system remained until the City of Peru built a water tower in 1914. After his time at Peru, he moved to South Dakota and became a popular lecturer, returning to campus in 1899 and again in 1906 to deliver a commencement address on “possible greatness to the graduating class of the normal.”

32 | PART II

Norton became a familiar figure in educational

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

circles across Nebraska. He made numerous trips across the state to speak on instructional matters and at the same time lobbied his audiences to hire Peru graduates. The school was able to boast in 1895 that graduates were able to immediately secure positions with yearly salaries of up to $1,200, further burnishing the reputation of the teaching profession in Nebraska. He also was a trained musician and greatly expanded the role of music on campus. Large, appreciative audiences from around southeast Nebraska regularly attended monthly concerts at the school.

A program from the 1894 commencement.

A headline in the Omaha World-Herald in 1895 proclaimed, “State Normal School at Peru an Institution of Remarkable Excellence.” The story noted, “Within the last two years the standard of the school has been raised very considerably.”

Unfortunately, Norton’s methods met with some disagreement, in particular his reliance on an honor system for student discipline.

In June 1895, the State Board of Education took up the renewal of his contract under opposition from some who accused him of “lightly passing over serious offenses and immoralities on the part of certain students.” But graduating seniors endorsed Norton on a 37-2 vote, and he was retained by vote of the board.

Norton couldn’t survive another vote in 1896, however, this time facing the opposition of Tom Majors, who at the time was a controversial figure in the Republican Party. Majors had lost a bloody battle within his own party while running for governor in 1894, with accusations from Omaha Bee publisher Edward Rosewater that he was a pawn of railroad companies.

The country was in the midst of a populist movement that arose after the Panic of 1893 financial crisis, although some added hard feelings went back to Majors’ support for moving the Capitol from Omaha to Lincoln more than 25 years earlier.

Majors would tell later of a political opponent who had poked fun at his railroad connections. The rival recounted a dream in which he had died and gone to heaven and was surprised to see Majors standing at the Pearly Gates. The rival said he asked Majors in the dream, “How in the world did you ever get into heaven?” and Majors replied, “I came in on the Burlington.”

Many of the political wounds had not yet healed. And while Norton’s management of the school was the main issue, newspaper accounts also pointed to party infighting being at the root of some of the hard feelings toward Norton, a Republican like Majors.

“Because his presence has given rise to factions in the school, it is perhaps as well for him, and for the state, that he should go,” a newspaper editorial said of Norton.

Nevertheless, he had made his mark on Peru, pushing the school to set its sights higher.

PART II | 33

MELVIN O. MCLAUGHLIN After graduation, McLaughlin taught in Lincoln for five years, then attended seminary in Ohio before returning to Nebraska as minister of a United Brethren Church. He was president of York College from 1913 to 1918. McLaughlin was elected to Congress in 1918 and served until 1927. Afterward he was involved in mining and investments.

JAMES A. BEATTIE WAS HIRED in June 1896 to succeed Norton at a salary of $2,000 a year. He would earn every cent of his pay in his first term. The school faced disaster in early January 1897 when fire broke out on the top floor of Mount Vernon Hall. Efforts to contain the blaze, fanned by gale-force winds, were futile and the building was destroyed. Fortunately, most students were away for the holidays, and only one injury occurred.

With the building in flames, Beattie telegraphed Judge B.E.B. Kennedy, president of the Board of Education, who got on the next available train and headed to Peru. He later called a board meeting to recommend an appropriation of $20,000 for a new dorm.

The town’s generosity was apparent in the face of the tragedy, as many residents took in students until other accommodations could be made.

The Legislature quickly approved funds for the new Mount Vernon Hall, with legislators pointing to the school’s wide appeal: Students came from 41 Nebraska counties and six other states.

The appropriation, however, came at a cost to Peru.

Before passage, questions were raised about moving the school to a central location in the state to make it more accessible to Nebraska students. Peru backers stood up for their school, leading state senators to look into the possibility of opening another Nebraska normal school, possibly in York or Scotia.

Senators noted that Missouri had five normal schools and South Dakota four. They also contended that Nebraskans in the western part of the state paid as much in travel expenses to Peru as they did in tuition.

Finally, there was the matter of politicians getting a piece of the state’s growing financial pie.

“If the western part of the state is not to have any of the large state institutions, for God’s sake let them have one little normal school,” pleaded Senator Firmin Q. Feltz of Ogallala.

The push to add another normal school fell short this time in the Legislature, but the issue would rise again.

James A. Beattie Principal, 1896-1900 Beattie, a graduate of Bethany College in West Virginia, came from Cotner Christian University in Lincoln. He reinstated the summer school program that had been experimented with earlier.

Its enrollment was 160 students in 1899 and more than doubled to 331 a year later. He had two main points of emphasis that became permanent parts of teacher education in Nebraska.

First, he pushed for better training in primary education, all the way down to kindergarten level.

Second, he advocated that those in the teaching profession should pursue advanced degrees.

Beattie left in 1900 to become president of Eastern Normal at Weston, Oregon, and later was regarded as one of the most influential educators on the West Coast.

34 | PART II

Mount Vernon Hall 1897 The Board of Education quickly recommended an appropriation of $20,000 to replace the old Mount Vernon Hall after it was heavily damaged in a fire. However, state senators balked at spending money for both a new dorm and a library, which had been proposed earlier, so the library plans were put on the back burner.

The new dorm provided a dining room and kitchen on a wing of the first floor, and part of the old building was able to be used for living quarters for the dormitory kitchen manager. The new Mount Vernon Hall lasted until 1960, when it was razed to make room for the Student Center and an addition to Eliza Morgan Hall.

The newly rebuilt Mount Vernon Hall would need someone new to run the dormitory.

Eliza Morgan, who had managed to quickly gather up her personal belongings and save them from the fire, stepped down as preceptress in 1898.

Students recalled her fondly just a few years after she left and described the dormitory environment she had helped to create: “Those who live there are benefited in many ways.

She who comes from a poor home has many more advantages than if living with a private family where there is only a limited number of girls. Here she sees pretty rooms, pretty pictures, cozy corners, fancy pillows and many little odds and ends so dear to girlish hearts. ...

Meeting with the girls in the parlors after the evening meal is always one of the most enjoyable occasions to all. There is music, singing, conversations and occasionally someone can be persuaded to recite. But there is always a lot of fun.�

Peru students were touched by war for the first time in 1898. The Normal Cadets, whom the state had supplied with guns, were told to return their arms for use by the Nebraska National Guard in the SpanishAmerican War. Several cadets enlisted and saw service during the war.

Normal Cadets around 1900.

PART II | 35

Eliza Morgan

MAKING A DIFFERENCE EULALIA OVERALL Class of 1901 Peru Normal graduate Eulalia Overall taught at Omaha’s Columbian and Mason Elementary Schools from 1901 to 1910. She was one of the first African-Americans to teach in the Omaha Public Schools.

Overall was an active participant in literary societies and read a paper, “Women From All Points of Activity,” to a regional conference in Omaha in 1908.

She later married Leonard E. Britt, a prominent Omaha doctor who was active in politics.

Meanwhile, Beattie went to work building a better school. He made the librarian position full time, allowing the building to be open all day to better address students’ needs. He also enlarged the Latin and German departments and placed greater emphasis upon language arts.

The hilltop underwent a technology upgrade with the first telephone line running from Normal Hall’s main office to the bank in town and the train station. The work was done under the supervision of professor Herbert Brownell Sr. In addition, printing equipment was installed so that the State Normal School Courier could be published on campus.

Beattie continued to push for more practice time in the classroom and began to encourage Peru students to think beyond their teaching degrees and pursue advanced degrees.

In 1898, the Normal School Board offered a chance for 90 or more children from the Indian Hills School District to study at Peru and for future instructors to practice teach. Many of those attending were eighth-grade graduates embarking on high school work and were charged tuition of $3 a month. The program would evolve into a tuition-free training school.

“The children were in good hands,” alumna Louise W. Mears wrote. “Supervising teachers mothered over them like the proverbial hen that hatched duck and turkey eggs.”

The first winter of the children’s migration up the hill to campus was especially snowy.

Some of them walked on stilts to keep their feet dry and stacked the devices by the door when they arrived. Others dragged sleds up the hill and at the end of the day rode with glee down to their homes.

Peru Normal graduates continued to distinguish themselves. Rosa Bouton, an 1881 graduate, established the department of home economics at the University of Nebraska in 1898. Eleanor Capitola Reed, an 1882 graduate, went on to Woman’s Hospital Medical College in Chicago and returned to Peru to practice medicine for more than 40 years.

Children at the training school marked George Washington’s birthday in 1900.

36 | PART II

Faculty members joined the class of 1898 for a photo.

Students display teaching tools for kindergartners.

PART II | 37

CAMPUS LIFE

1900

STUDENT ACTIVITIES ON CAMPUS were mostly structured at the turn of the century.

Recitals, readings, concerts and recitations sponsored by faculty members were popular social events. On their own time, students frequently strolled into the countryside and down the hill to the Missouri River for recreation. Field days allowed the young men and women to compete in track and field events, along with three-legged races and sack races.

The Symphony Club had fun making music from household articles.

Young ladies enjoyed outings away from campus.

Young women gathered in a dining room for meals.

Students did their best to clean their dormitory in good spirits.

AS A NEW CENTURY dawned, Peru Normal continued to steadily build upon its solid foundation. A $35,000 appropriation for a building to serve as chapel and gymnasium was winding its way through the Legislature, and the school was enjoying a leadership role on statewide educational issues. Lillian Stoner, political science professor and preceptress, was elected clerk of the State Educational Council in 1900, and Peru graduates were serving throughout the state in education positions.

The school’s debate squads were traveling as far west as Kearney and as far south as Warrensburg, Missouri, for competition. Peru in 1900 hosted the first of a series of annual challenges with the Kansas Normal School’s debate team and also faced off against the Kirksville Normal School of Missouri.

“These debates are looked forward to as the most enjoyable events of the year, as there is Lillian Stoner

nothing more inspiring and more elevating than these friendly combats in spirited debates,” students reported in the yearbook.

A women’s debating society also was organized so that each woman would “be enabled to fill the public positions to which she is often called, and to fill them with ease and confidence.”

The women claimed two of the first three debates against Peru’s men and soon were trying out for the school’s main team. By 1907, Belle Bolejack was a member of the team traveling for interstate competition.

State Normal students enjoyed pretending to be schoolchildren in 1902.

40 | PART II

A State Normal debate team that competed against Auburn High alumni in 1909.

Peru students had been engaging in sports contests for more than a decade when Principal W.A. Clark decided in 1901 to officially take the plunge into athletics. Competition was established in football, baseball, tennis and basketball – a sport that had been invented just 10 years earlier in Springfield, Massachusetts.

That fall, Clark led a group of students to the bottom of the hill with shovels and axes to clear and level a field for sports. On Thanksgiving Day, the Nebraska State Normal School scheduled Falls City High in the inaugural football game at what would become known as the Oak Bowl.

Some students stayed at Oak Glen Dormitory, off-campus private housing.

W.A. Clark Principal, 1900-1904 Clark, who received a master’s degree from Harvard and a doctorate from the University of Chicago, first came to Peru as a teacher. While he was a highly respected educator, he is best remembered at Peru State College for having built the Oak Bowl during his tenure. College athletic competition was in its formative years, and the new field provided a stage for sports to allow similar schools to interact. He also steered the school through lean budget years while maintaining high morale among students and faculty members. Clark resigned as principal to pursue advanced studies at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. He later served on the faculty of the new Kearney Normal and headed the education and psychology department at North Missouri Normal School in Kirksville.

PART II | 41

The Oak Bowl

The first football game was played on a shortened field with only one goalpost.

FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, Peru’s students knew their new field was a special setting.

The 1902 yearbook noted, “The new athletic field when fully completed will be one of the best athletic fields in the West, for surrounded on all sides by a natural amphitheater in which nature has so bountifully done her part, certainly no more appropriate spot could be selected in all Nebraska.”

The site was just down the hill from Old Main in a natural setting for a field. Spectators for early games sat on the dirt on the slope facing the playing surface. Bleachers were later added on the west side of the field.

The field’s stunning surroundings led it to be christened, “The Oak Bowl.”

The field was later widened and lengthened to a 207-by-600-foot area, and drainage was installed. When the work was finished, the athletic facility included a football field with a track around it and two tennis courts.

The Peru State Normal’s 1901 football team was the first to be officially sanctioned by the school. Among the team members was Jess Harshbarger of Stella (bottom row, third from the left), the grandfather of current Associate Athletic Director Ted Harshbarger.

Football players wore leather helmets, still a relatively new innovation when play began at the Oak Bowl.

Wooden bleachers were added in 1910, with additional seating on the opposite side in 1915.

Students performed a “snake dance� before a game as the band played.

A women’s basketball game preceded the football contest on the field. With no gymnasium

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

yet on campus, the men’s and women’s basketball teams held games outdoors.

HORACE C. FILLEY

first game at the Oak Bowl. “If the result of the game is a criterion for the future of athletics in

Filley taught school after graduation and later obtained a master’s from the University of Nebraska and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.

He was hired by the University of Nebraska in 1911 and developed a program in farm management that evolved over time into the Department of Agricultural Economics.

He wrote and taught on farm management and farm economics and served as an administrator until 1949. Filley Hall on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s East Campus was named after him in 1972.

But football was the main event. The State Normal School defeated Falls City 30-0 in that the State Normal, we can certainly prophesy a brilliant and promising career in the years to come,” the Golden Rod yearbook noted.

“This field is an ever-present reminder of what grit and hard labor will accomplish,” wrote Peru faculty member Mattie Cook Ellis. “We have the young men in attendance at the Normal to thank for this, nor are the young women to be forgotten, for were they not standing near, helping by their presence, their advice and their sympathy?”

The football team headed off for road games as well. W.T. Davis, captain of the 1904 team, recalled a 25-hour round trip to Tarkio, 25 miles from Peru. The team left the hilltop at 5 a.m. and took a ferry across the Missouri River as “the muddy water lapped the sides of our loaded boat,” Davis said. “A downpour drenched our party on the wagon ride home and we reached the river around 3 o’clock in the morning. By building a huge bonfire and yelling, we finally got the attention of the boatman, who had turned in for the night on the Peru side of the river. It was 6 o’clock when we got back.”

College sports were catching on across the country, and athletics took on enough importance that Peru Normal joined with eight other schools to form the Nebraska Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

With academics, activities and athletics all on the rise, the State Normal School was a

The baseball team traveled away from Peru for games in 1902.

model of success. It had grown to more than 700 students in 1902, and the faculty had increased from just John and Charlotte McKenzie to 20 instructors overseeing a widely expanded curriculum.

In addition, Thomas J. Majors – his political career seeming to be winding down after his unsuccessful run for governor – was appointed to the State Board of Education just ahead of his 61st birthday.

The appointment would allow him to keep a watchful eye on the school he had helped establish and protect its funding. His role would grow in importance as the board weighed applications from 10 Nebraska cities to open a second normal school in the western part of the state.

44 | PART II

A Pioneer in Women’s Sports PERU WAS NOTEWORTHY in establishing women’s athletics in the early 20th century. It made sense to open up participation to women, who made up more than half of the enrollment.

The school found out that it had no shortage of those who could compete. An early Normal women’s basketball team defeated Falls City 21-1, with a newspaper noting that Peru as “especially strong on teamwork and goal throwing.”

Early women’s baseball teams played indoors in the gymnasium.

Lawn tennis was played on courts near where the T.J. Majors Building currently stands. The women’s basketball team formed just one year after the men’s, and just 11 years after the game had been invented.

Crowning Glory PERU CAMPUS LIFE in the early part of the century was varied and enjoyable, with activities that included sports, debate and theater. A student wrote after a performance of the comic operetta “The Muffin Man”: “The curtain fell upon a scene of wildest enthusiasm, and it was not until the encore was delightfully given that the audience subsided.”

The Normal Cadets raised money for uniforms and equipment and reorganized, and once again received guns from the state. They formed into two troops, with taller students in one, shorter in the other, to present a more uniform appearance when they marched.

James W. Crabtree reappeared on campus in 1904, but he was no longer pulling Halloween pranks.

Crabtree returned to his alma mater as president, the first Peru graduate to hold the post. The school’s other earlier prankster, Dexter Ashley, was by this time a prominent doctor in New York, proving that Peru could take the rough edges off even the biggest rascals.

Crabtree eagerly took the helm, saying the school had “every prospect for substantial growth and Students performed a comedy review in the theater.

improvement in the character of our work.”

He pushed for a new arrangement in which two-year graduates from Peru could receive a bachelor of

education degree, either by staying two more years or by finishing their course work at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. His pioneering degree was quickly copied at other normal schools across the country.

James W. Crabtree President, 1904-1910 Crabtree, class of 1887, was the first Peru State Normal graduate to head the school, the first to be primarily known as “president” and the first to be clean-shaven. Construction projects taken on during his tenure are still standing today. He later served as Nebraska’s state superintendent of public instruction and as president of Wisconsin State Normal at River Falls, which has a dormitory named in his honor. Crabtree was executive secretary of the National Education Association from 1917 to 1934 and was highly regarded for keeping the group together during a period of conflict between teachers and administrators. Upon his death in 1945, the editor of the National Education Association Journal called him “a great leader, a combination of Horace Mann and Abraham Lincoln.”

46 | PART II

Students worked on science lessons in a classroom area of the library.

He also advocated limiting entrance to high school graduates.

The previous requirement had been only the completion of the 10th grade, with the last two years of high school provided at Peru Normal, followed by two years of teaching instruction.

Crabtree also named department heads to guide the faculty, shifting the responsibility from the president’s office. Finally, he switched the school year from three terms into two semesters, as many other colleges and universities had.

The class of 1905 gathered for a commencement photograph.

PART II | 47

INSPIRING

FACULTY

HENRY DUNCANSON Science

WILBUR HOYT Chemistry

Duncanson sponsored the Normal

Hoyt wrote the textbook Principles, Problems and Methods of Elementary Chemistry and

Cadets and was a strong advocate of

served as an inspiration to a generation of students studying science at Peru State

calisthenics as part of education.

Normal.

ESTHER CLARK Language and literature

E.A. WHITENACK German

HERBERT BROWNELL SR. Science

Clark served as advisor for the school’s

Whitenack wrote a teaching guide to

Brownell supervised the installation of

chapter of the YWCA, whose goal on

Theodore Storm’s Immensee, a popular

the poles to bring a telephone line to

campus was “the development of the

19th century German novella, that in-

campus in 1897. He later taught at the

Christian character of the girls.”

cluded notes, exercises and German vo-

University of Nebraska. Brownell Elemen-

cabulary for English-speaking students.

tary School in Lincoln is named for him.

Schoolchildren received lessons in a classroom setting at Peru State Normal.

The school continued to offer a rigorous course of study, and practice teaching presented an added challenge for the seniors.

One senior wrote: “The life of a model school teacher is not a happy one. First of all is the practice work, lasting from 20 to 40 minutes each day. During this time the embarrassed and usually nervous senior (particularly the latter, if the critic teacher very unceremoniously makes her appearance) labors to instill into the youthful minds some of the wisdom with which she is so fortunately blessed. ... The writing of the weekly plan is always a desperately interesting experience, since it is usually followed by a private criticism. During this conference the humble and unassuming practice teacher is informed by the critic that she does not conduct herself in a manner befitting the dignity of her position; her voice is rasping, a course in voice culture is suggested as a remedy; also, when presenting her work, she is not sure of herself.”

The senior added that after receiving her critique, she slunk away to her room to “pour forth her woes into the sympathetic ears of her roommate.”

President James Crabtree, amidst training teachers.

PART II | 49

THE CAMPUS CONTINUED to grow and to offer more for students.

The new chapel building and gymnasium were dedicated in 1905 with Governor John H. Mickey in attendance. Among the speakers was George Howard, one of two members of the State Normal School’s first graduating class. The other, Anna Moorhead Joy, also attended, and for the first time Peru graduates wore caps and gowns at graduation.

Peru was part of a major observance in Nebraska City that same year, a visit from former President Grover Cleveland for the dedication of a statue of J. Sterling Morton, who had been U.S. secretary of agriculture during the Cleveland administration. Organizers of the event invited Ed Vance and the school band to play for the former president.

William Jennings Bryan, who had twice run for president unsuccessfully, drew a crowd of 1,600 in 1906 to the Chapel, which was believed to be the biggest assembly room owned by the state. “I can leave no better thought with you this afternoon than that truth, no matter how long kept down, will triumph in the end,� he told the students in the audience. He encouraged them to go forward with the resolve to do good for mankind and to be a help, rather than a drag, The chapel building was converted into the library about a century after it was built.

Chapel and Gymnasium 1905 The Legislature approved $43,500 to build a new chapel with a main-floor capacity of 900 and a balcony capacity of 400. The gymnasium in the basement included a running track and locker facilities for both men and women.

The main floor was made level in 1922 and turned into a gymnasium, while the lower floor was converted into a swimming pool. The stage was removed in 1928 and moved to the new auditorium on the south end of the Hoyt Science Building, and the basketball court was reconfigured to make room for bleachers on the sides. The building was renovated to become the current library in 2003.

on society.

The new chapel building could seat 900 on the main floor and 400 in the balcony, with more squeezing into side rooms on special occasions.

The new gymnasium in the chapel basement allowed Peru’s men and women to move indoors for basketball.

The men beat Nebraska City 19-16 in their first official home basketball game at the gym in 1905, while the women beat a Tecumseh team 18-2 in their debut and averaged just one loss for each of their first six seasons.

Peru was a pioneer in the new sport, having played outside for several years before the gymnasium was built. In fact, Peru would already be in its 12th season of official play when it traveled to Omaha for Creighton University’s inaugural men’s basketball game in 1917.

Football was in full bloom. The team was a regional force, scheduling games against Creighton and Omaha University and playing the University of Nebraska in 1907, 1908 and 1910.

The 1907 men’s basketball team finished with a 5-3 record.

PART II | 51

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Peru Normal academics were something to boast about as well. The new library, with a 35,000-volume capacity, opened a year after the chapel and gymnasium.

A student proudly spoke of the school in the 1907 yearbook: “There could certainly be no better proof of the Normal’s

LOUISE W. MEARS Mears taught geography at Peru State Normal, along with colleges in Minnesota and Wisconsin. She later worked for the Nebraska Historical Society and was the author of The Hills of Peru, a book that recorded pioneer life in southeast Nebraska.

Art students had a roomful of prints to study a variety of styles.

growth and prosperity than the beautiful new buildings, which have in the near past been erected upon this campus.”

Musicals and lectures filled the school calendar. The Cleveland Ladies Orchestra performed in early 1907, while the next month a sculptor lectured on his art.

“The lecture course committee deserves much praise and is to be congratulated for securing so strong a course as we have had,” one student wrote.

Theater got its turn with the newly formed Dramatic Club, which performed “Land of the Heart’s Desire” in 1908. The school yearbook, which previously had been known as the Golden Rod and the Oak Leaf, officially became the Peruvian.

Students hung playbills to announce upcoming lectures on the Peru Normal campus.

52 | PART II

Peru State Normal students gather for morning chapel service.

Library 1906 The Legislature appropriated $32,000 for a new one-story library with classroom space in the basement. The response in Peru was so enthusiastic that the State Normal band and students met Tom Majors and State Senator Ellis Good at the train station and escorted them to the school chapel to recount their efforts in getting the funding approved. Afterward, students started several bonfires to celebrate and paraded through the streets in their nightgowns until after midnight. The Legislature approved $12,000 in 1911 for an addition, which housed a small theater, an art room and storage space. The building was renovated into the Center for Achievement and Transition Services in 2004.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

EDISON PETTIT Class of 1910 Pettit’s interest in astronomy caught the eye of Professor Herbert Brownell, who encouraged him to pursue studies in the field.

Professor Wilbur Hoyt recalled that Pettit “was always working on such scientific experiments as checking the earth’s rotation with a ball and string pendulum suspended from the ceiling of the chapel dome.”

The Camera Club provided students with a taste of what was still a relatively complicated process.

From the early days and on, students at Peru were given the opportunity and critical thinking tools to form well-educated opinions.

As the fall 1908 general election approached, the Philomathean Society held a lively discussion and presentation of papers on the merits of presidential candidates William Howard Taft and William Jennings Bryan, the Nebraskan who had spoken several times on campus.

Nebraska was in the process of moving into modern times. Ed Vance, the merchant who had directed Peru Normal’s first band, bought the town’s first automobile in 1909, a Maxwell he purchased for $1,200. Down by the river, a gas-powered ferry began transporting people and freight between Peru and the Missouri side of the river.

Pettit later received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and eventually joined the staff at the renowned Mount Wilson Observatory in California.

Craters are named after him on the moon and on Mars.

The Philomathean Society sponsored its own musical performances.

54 | PART II

The old library received a brick veneer when it was enlarged and turned into a science building in 1904.

Professor Herbert Brownell (left) conducted chemistry classes in the old library building.

THE BEGINNING OF CLASSES became a welcoming event at Peru State Normal. Students were greeted on their arrival in the fall with a reception sponsored by the YMCA, the YWCA

CAMPUS LIFE

1910s

and the Normal Catholic Association. Athletic carnivals, which raised money for the sports programs, featured 5-cent ice cream cones and homemade candy. One event didn’t go as planned. A group of about 90 students headed into the countryside for a picnic breakfast but were sent scampering after encountering a hornet’s nest. Later in the school year, preceptress Lillian Stoner hosted an event at Mount Vernon Hall at which she portrayed Martha Washington. Young women danced the Virginia reel and enjoyed dainty cakes.

Students relaxed in the Quad.

Students gathered for a holiday.

“Our glorious Thanksgiving feed,” one wrote.

“Our folks sent us chicken, pies, cakes, salads, cream puffs, cranberries and... everything.”

Peru hills were perfect for tobogganing.

Moving day was a big event at the rail station.

The Color Song Fling abroad our college colors to the free Nebraska breeze Blending heaven’s own white and azure with the soft green of the trees While our loyal hearts and voices with pride and joy unite As we sing Peru’s devotion to the pale blue and the white The earliest known version, from 1906, was written by English professor George N. Porter. The lyrics were rewritten in 1912 to the current version, although some alumni reportedly were upset over the changes. Music professor Walter Hohmann wrote new music for it in 1920, but the original tune was restored after he left the school.

Cheerleading was an informal activity, requiring only rolled-up paper and a loud voice.

A dorm bed supported five friends.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

ALEXANDER STODDARD Class of 1910 Stoddard served as superintendent of schools in Beatrice and Newman Grove, Nebraska; Denver; Philadelphia; Providence, Rhode Island; and Los Angeles.

He was a leading advocate of television as a teaching tool.

His “Stoddard plan” in the 1950s caused a national uproar over fears that television would replace teachers in the classroom, but it eventually became a blueprint for developing public educational TV.

The 1910 senior banquet was a formal affair.

James W. Crabtree in 1909 got the Legislature to appropriate $40,000 for a new administration building, but within a year he was gone. He had accomplished much in his tenure, including the elevation of his job from principal to the title of president, and the school had more than tripled the number of yearly graduates.

However, he was asked to resign in 1910 after supporting proposals intended to depoliticize the newly renamed State Normal Board.

Newspapers statewide published editorials condemning Crabtree’s dismissal. “It appears that there are other qualifications necessary to the principalship of a state normal school,” the Lincoln Star wrote, blaming “that old issue of politics. Mr. Crabtree seems to have committed the crime of having convictions.”

The uproar passed with time, and the wounds healed. Crabtree would remain one of the school’s most distinguished and beloved alumni.

Administration Building 1911 The Legislature approved $40,000 for the three-story building just north of Normal Hall. The structure, which began in the Crabtree administration and was completed in the D.W. Hayes administration, was designed to provide space for the president and deans, along with the school’s financial offices.

It also contained 10 classrooms and a room for typewriting classes. The building originally was envisioned with a swimming pool in the basement to be connected by a tunnel to the gymnasium, but the idea was abandoned later.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

JOY ELMER MORGAN Class of 1911

Young women gathered for a luncheon in 1910.

PERU NORMAL PREPARED in May 1911 for perhaps its most glorious moment to date.

First came a musical festival that featured New York Metropolitan Opera star William Wade Hinshaw. “This promises to be the greatest musical event ever held here, or in fact in this part of Nebraska,” a newspaper article said. Special trains were arranged to bring in music enthusiasts from Nebraska City and Falls City.

The school then turned its attention to another major milestone when it dedicated a monument marking the site of the first commencement exercises 40 years earlier.

John McKenzie, the school’s first principal, and wife Charlotte, Peru’s first preceptress, once again stood upon the hilltop campus. So did one of Peru’s first graduates, Anna Moorhead Joy, and three of the men who had gotten the school off the ground, Thomas J. Majors, Daniel C. Cole and Dr. J.F. Neal. The Philomathean Society placed a large glacial boulder on the campus to mark the occasion.

The granite boulder that commemorates the 1870 commencement was found on a farm 6 miles south of Peru.

The school spent $50 to transport it and place it in front of the Administration Building.

PART II | 59

Morgan was superintendent of schools at Bloomington and Guide Rock in Nebraska. He served as librarian at Camp McArthur in World War I and as assistant to the director of the Library War Service in Washington, D.C. He became the first director of the National Education Association’s division of publications in 1920 and edited the NEA’s Journal until he retired in 1954.

He was a pioneer in advocating that public broadcasting be used to further education and wrote “The American Citizen’s Handbook,” which was designed to educate young people on their duties as Americans.

He founded Future Teachers of America and, after his retirement, Senior Citizens of America.

Morgan received Peru’s Distinguished Service Award in 1954.

May Festivals

The crowning of a May queen was a highlight of the festival.

THE FIRST MAY FESTIVAL, in 1911, broadened a tradition of programs by the Peru State Normal Choral Society and further enhanced the hilltop’s reputation as a cultural center for southeast Nebraska.

The festivals brought enrichment that extended far beyond campus.

“The conscientious preparation of a choral classic is immensely educational to all who share the effort, and the annual coming of vocal artists of renown is a benefit and a joy to students and citizens alike,” the school noted in 1914. “Without the cooperation of communities outside of Peru, however, the plan could not possibly have achieved a permanent success.”

The spring program later was renamed the May Fete.

May Fete court

William Wade Hinshaw of the Metropolitan Opera appeared in 1911.

May pole ceremony

The school and community also were reveling in being the subject of a book, Hills of Peru, by 1895 graduate Louise W. Mears. She wrote of new students’ arrival in town and their climb up the hill to their new school: “Then comes the surprise to greet the eyes of the

A LEADER IN EDUCATION

newcomers! Like the first glimpse of the Promised Land, there it is! The brick college buildings set in acres of native hardwood trees, and the panorama of the distant Missouri River valley between bluffs and lowlands. Gasps and shouts come from many a scholar. And this same revealing surprise has impressed generations of students.”

President D.W. Hayes and Peru businessmen hosted a banquet for state politicians in January 1913 to tout the benefits of the State Normal School on the hill. While dining on a five-course dinner prepared by students of the domestic science program, the politicians were told of the school’s goals for the future. The businessmen sought to reinforce the institution’s importance by outlining the school’s growth, while pointing out that Peru was just the 17th normal school established in the U.S. The number had since grown to 200.

That information, not to mention the five-course meal, must have had an effect on the politicians. Work began the next year on a training school on the ground where the observatory once had stood. It probably also didn’t hurt that Tom Majors, at the age of 72, was still sitting on the State Normal Board in 1913.

Peru was facing new competition for students and for state funding from the board.

A new State Normal School had opened in Kearney in 1905 and quickly became a favorable option for students in the west.

D.W. Hayes President, 1910-1918 Hayes had a familiar name in education, having been superintendent of the Alliance schools and past president of the Northwest Nebraska Teachers Association. He continued the oversight of building projects on Peru’s campus, including the second story on the library in the fall of 1911 and a new greenhouse in 1912. Peru named its first official dean of women, Mattie Cook Ellis, on his watch.

Among his lasting accomplishments were successfully helping Peru State Normal become a member of the infant North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and initiating a student health facility on campus. Hayes resigned to take a job with a New York agency involved in the reclamation of public lands.

PART II | 61

In 1915, Peru State Normal was recognized by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, the first school in the state to receive accreditation. Peru State College remains accredited by the association more than a century later.

EARLY LEADER IN THEATER The Peru Dramatic Club was one of the first dramatic organizations in the state when it began in 1908.

The group at first was confined to the study of Shakespeare with readings but no presentations. Membership was exclusive, with tryouts required.

Looking up 6th Street toward campus in 1907.

“As settlement proceeded in Nebraska, it had become increasingly hard for Peru to fulfill the need for teachers because it was a long way from western Nebraska to Peru,”

By 1917, the club was taking on challenging public productions, such as “Cousin Kate,” a comedy by popular British playwright Hubert Henry Davies.

said James E. Potter, senior research historian at the Nebraska State Historical Society.

“Its value lay in its grace and charm of sentiment, and its artistic execution endeared it to the audience,” the Peruvian yearbook said.

been Nebraska’s only teachers college and had found powerful advocates in the Legislature.

Normal schools also were established in Wayne in 1910 and Chadron in 1911, pulling away even more potential students and competing in the Legislature for appropriations.

By 1917, Peru’s enrollment represented less than one-third of the total number of students at the state’s normal schools and was less than that at Kearney. Budgets were similarly distributed and building appropriations were being directed more toward the newer schools.

Peru had enjoyed relatively easy access to state funding for most of its first 50 years. It had But Kearney, Wayne and Chadron now were offering their own normal schools.

Meanwhile, road construction was taking off across the state. The “King of Trails” federal highway, the precursor to U.S. 75, had been laid out as a direct north-south route between Auburn and Nebraska City – with Peru isolated 7 miles to the east.

The school from this point on would have to dig in its heels continually and fight for what it needed to thrive. Peru Normal had survived a winter with a tar paper roof, a major fire and occasional administrative turmoil.

The first 50 years did not mark the end of struggles, but it had provided the school with strong survival skills, and its mission and resources continued to grow.

A new department, rural education, was created and deans of men and women were named, eliminating the position of preceptress. Education for the hearing impaired was part of a campus discussion, accompanied by demonstrations of sign language.

More than 95 percent of the students were employed within two weeks after graduation, and new grads were averaging $62.50 a month in salary, and much more in urban areas.

62 | PART II

The Quad on the Peru State Normal School campus, circa 1915.

Campus life continued to improve, as the school instituted a 50-cent-per-student fee to help pay for a school nurse and infirmary. Growing enrollment had brought home the need.

“When a mumps epidemic gets loose in a community, the soupbone and the boullion cube vie with each other as the article of popular diet, and the merchant orders crackers by the carload lot,” the Peruvian noted.

Peru’s early emphasis on women’s athletics continued to receive notice. A newspaper stated in 1915 that alumna Beulah Rader was believed to be one of the few women umpiring baseball games in Nebraska.

Students were finding enrichment at Peru Normal, and as alumni, they were sharing their lessons with the world around them.

T.J. Majors Building 1917 Plans were approved for the T.J. Majors Training School in 1914, and $83,000 was appropriated for the three-story building.

Construction delays prevented students from moving in until January 1917, and the dedication was held in June.

The training school had its own gymnasium and equipment for industrial education and home economics classes. A playground was north of the building, and an athletic field was later built west of Eliza Morgan Hall. The facility served as Peru’s public school until 1967, when it became a Peru State College facility.

THE COMPLETION OF THE T.J. Majors Training School in June 1917 helped cap off the 50th anniversary of the Peru State Normal School. The building’s marble stairs and corridors and mosaic tile floors provided a showcase for the school on the hill. The columns on the three-story building added to the stately appearance.

On the inside, the State Normal Board equipped the classrooms so well that the campus school was recognized as one of the most modern institutions in the Midwest.

Guest speaker at the dedication was James W. Crabtree, who had been the school’s president just a few years earlier. Crabtree, by this time the president of the normal school in River Falls, Wisconsin, presented the 76-year-old Majors with a painted portrait and spoke at length of Majors’ achievements.

Artist Nicholas Richard Brewer painted the portrait of Thomas J. Majors that hangs in the T.J. Majors Building. Brewer also is widely known for portraits of Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Franklin D. Roosevelt and of three U.S. Supreme Court justices. His work also can be found at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago.

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The Peru Normal community also turned out, including John and Charlotte McKenzie, to mark the occasion with “The Pageant of Peru” in June 1917. They had seen the school’s beginning and were on hand for its 50th anniversary. “(Mr.) and Mrs. McKenzie witnessed the crowning glory of their lives, the semicentennial celebration held at Peru,” a newspaper noted.

Peru’s hilltop school was in many ways celebrating its own crowning glory, the

John and Charlotte McKenzie

culmination of a golden age.

J.W. Searson wrote in the “Nebraska Education Journal”: “To one who goes to Peru today and sees there the excellent buildings, well equipped, situated on one of the most picturesque campuses in the United States, there comes a feeling that there must have been marvelous progress made. ... To such a visitor, the story of the early school at Peru would seem almost unreal, in fact, more like a fairy tale.”

Thomas J. Majors insisted that the tree to the north of his building (below right) not be taken down during construction, believing that it had been among those planted by the earliest students at Peru State Normal.

J.W. Searson

IMPACT BEYOND THE HILLTOP

“Year by year she has strengthened and broadened, her alumni going to the four corners of the world as her best advertisements.”

—1917 graduate G. Talbot Hunt

PERU STATE NORMAL SET ITSELF APART during its first 50 years by helping to provide the educational foundation for the State of Nebraska in the period of explosive growth as population spread westward.

From its first graduating class of two, the school had expanded to graduating classes of more than 200 and a teaching staff of 19 men and 30 women as it started its second 50 years. President D.W. Hayes boasted that Peru had graduated more than twice as many students as any private, public or denominational institution in the state.

Graduates and the faculty were moving on to make their presence felt across the educational landscape of the country. State Normal alumnus George Howard was the first professor of history at the University of Nebraska and later was the first professor of sociology.

Professor Herbert Brownell, who had overseen the installation of the first telephone line to the hilltop, completed his distinguished career at the University of Nebraska and authored textbooks on physics and chemistry.

Other graduates and faculty members played leading roles in developing curriculum at Stanford University, the University of Chicago and Ivy League schools.

In addition, the campus had established itself as a cultural hub, exposing citizens of southeast Nebraska to a wide range of musical, dramatic, oratorical and political events.

PERU GRADUATES

BY COUNTY 30 or more

20-30

10-20

10 or less

none

EXPANDING FOOTPRINT The school prepared a map in 1910 to show the number of Peru State Normal graduates in counties throughout the state.

PART III

1918-1967

a world of change

“We present to you Peru, with its Campus of a Thousand Oaks, with its perpetual spirit of youth, with its lasting traditions deeply rooted in the past ... a college whose cherished memories are unforgettable, whose beloved friendships even distance cannot change.”

— 1939 Peruvian yearbook

Keeping Up With the Times NOTHING COULD HAVE SPOILED the 50th anniversary of the State Normal School in Peru. But the celebration could not ignore an unsettled global picture – the United States had entered World War I just two months earlier.

“Words are so meaningless when we come to speak our appreciation for those who made the supreme sacrifice, but the years of our lives will not be enough to blot out their memories.”

— Peru President E.L. Rouse

Thomas J. Majors held an American flag as he spoke at the dedication of the building named in his honor. “There is but one thing to do,” he said. “Stand by Old Glory, which stands for pure liberty, and teach to the youth of Nebraska the one grand idea of liberty throughout the world.”

The war would require the service of both Peru students and faculty members. Some students who served in the National Guard had been called up a year earlier to help protect the border from raids by Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. They would now head to Europe.

Peru’s campus also felt the war’s impact. Rationing of wheat led to substitutes such as rice and potato flour, while red meat was replaced by whale meat, fish and poultry. Football was canceled and didn’t resume until the war ended.

Security was tight during the war years, even with Nebraska so far from the action in Europe. Science professor Wilbur Hoyt, arriving in Nebraska City for a teachers meeting in 1917, purchased a bottle of acid for use in his lab. Not wanting to carry the bottle to the meeting, he left it at the train depot with the intention of picking it up when he came to catch the train back to Peru.

When Hoyt returned to the depot, however, he was arrested and accused by the local sheriff of being a German spy. He eventually established his identity and returned home.

History professor Mattie Cook Ellis added a class on the Great War. “Never before have so many turned to 19th century history for the roots of the crisis,” she said.

Students further lent a hand to the war effort with drives to raise money for the Red Cross, Salvation Army and Liberty Bonds.

E.L. Rouse President, 1918-1921 Rouse was already on staff at Peru State Normal when D.W. Hayes left as president, having served as dean of men since 1910. He previously had been superintendent of schools in Plattsmouth.

Rouse was a popular speaker on education across the state, addressing topics such as teaching goals, classroom supervision and school administration. He also took up the banner to fight the Taxpayers League for better funding for education and school athletics. In 1921, he left to become superintendent of the Scottsbluff schools at an increased salary. Rouse later served as acting president at Chadron State Teachers College from 1939 to 1941.

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Professor Wilbur Hoyt’s scientific curiosity was an inspiration to his students.

Peru’s Flying Ace AMONG PERUVIANS WHO served in World War I was 1915 graduate Orville “Wab” Ralston, who went to Texas for training and quickly rose through the ranks to take a role as a flight instructor.

During his time in Texas, he struck up a friendship with another Nebraskan, Jarvis Offutt of Omaha.

Ralston reported for duty with a British air unit in France on July 5, 1918, and two days later shot down his first enemy plane. Another followed.

Ralston was unhappy with his British plane, though, and wrote in his journal: “It makes me sick to think of how slow the States are in aeroplane manufacturing, and they have no one trying to make new (fighters), so we will probably have to take the cast-off or old type machines.”

His displeasure with his plane apparently reached the breaking point, and he purposely crashed it to get another. According to the book, War Birds, the Diary of an Unknown Aviator: “He picked out a good place to do it and went down and pancaked.

He crashed it all right, and nearly killed himself doing it.”

After getting his new plane, he recorded his third kill, but he later learned of the death of his friend Offutt.

“Got a letter telling of Jarve Offutt’s death, which happened by accident,” he wrote. “Jarve was a fine lad and liked very much by all of us. It seems that the best always go first.” The air base near Bellevue would later be named in his honor.

By the war’s end, Ralston had shot down five enemy planes, earning him the Distinguished Service Cross and the title of “ace.” Ralston appeared at Peru in February 1918 to deliver an address and received a long ovation.

“Peru was never prouder of any of her sons,” said The Normalite, the student newspaper.

Orville Ralston downed five enemy planes during the war.

Peru Women Were ‘Over There’ WOMEN WENT OVERSEAS as well during the war years. Etta Young (class of 1914) and Ruth Courtright

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Kennedy (class of 1915) were with the Red Cross in France.

“The urgency for Red Cross volunteers was being felt throughout the country,” Kennedy recalled years later. She wrote for information and learned that each volunteer girl had to put up her own $1,000 to pay for expenses. Through teaching, with her Peru degree, she had saved $500 and her friends raised the rest.

Even the trip overseas was harrowing, Kennedy said.

“We were in the midst of the flu epidemic,” she recalled. “On our ship, 50 soldiers, 10 Red Cross men and four Red Cross women died of the sickness during the crossing. We had no medicine and no hot water.”

Near the end of the voyage, the transport ship was caught in a field of icebergs and had to dodge German submarines.

ETTA YOUNG Class of 1914

“During our last four days on board – while I had a case of the flu myself – we had to wear life jackets and were not permitted to sleep in our bunks because of the fear that at any minute we might be required to abandon ship,” she said.

Both Young and Kennedy were put to work at canteens near railroad depots. Young wrote home about the work: “We serve an army of 1,500 men each day. We not only feed them, but sew on buttons, mend torn sleeves, besides listening to all their tales from the most blood-stirring trench experiences to how they won their sweethearts. I expect to remain as long as there is a soldier to be fed.”

In spite of hardship, the time in France was an eye opener for the young women. They traveled to Paris and made trips that took them close to the battlefields. “I would not have missed this experience

RUTH COURTRIGHT KENNEDY

for the world,” Young wrote home.

Class of 1915

Mattie Cook Ellis

Infirmary Paid Off

Peru’s infirmary

Peru State Normal escaped the 1918 influenza pandemic without a fatality. At its peak, 19 students were receiving treatment at the infirmary. Mattie Cook Ellis had pushed for the infirmary, which opened in 1916, in her role as dean of women. The position previously had been called preceptress.

“The flu situation convinced everyone of the necessity of having a school infirmary,“ the Peru Normalite reported. “The flu has been practically stamped out in the school, thanks to the infirmary management with its skilled nurse and physician.”

Nurse Alice Barclay

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

VERNE CHATELAIN Class of 1917 Chatelain taught at Peru from 1925 to 1931, then left to become the first chief historian for the National Park Service.

He later was research associate for the Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C., and administrative and liaison officer for President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II. He also was a professor of history at the University of Maryland.

The Student Army Training Corps was established in 1918 and ended with the war’s end the same year.

The Red Cross showed “moving pictures” from the war, although “harrowing scenes” had been cut for the campus audience. Meanwhile, “The Little American” starring Mary Pickford was shown at the Normal chapel. “The acting was excellent and the scenery was especially good,” the Peru Normalite reported.

The school provided a Student Army Training Corps program in which students, using Old Main for barracks, devoted three-fourths of their time to studies and one-fourth to training. The training corps quickly wore down the grass to dirt with its drilling, but the unit disbanded when the Armistice was signed in November 1918.

The war’s end came quietly in Peru, but not so in France.

“You’ve never seen anyone as excited as the Frenchmen while they celebrated the end of the war,” recalled Ruth Courtright Kennedy, a Peru grad who served in Europe as a nurse.

“Of course, by the next day most of the soldiers had passed out from heavy drinking.”

Sadly, four Peru boys lost their lives during World War I and are remembered in a memorial on Cemetery Hill. One thousand trees and shrubs were planted as a remembrance to the fallen.

The school also bade a sad farewell to its first principal, John M. McKenzie, who died in 1918. Alumnus George Howard noted McKenzie’s tremendous impact, not only on Peru, but also as Nebraska’s first superintendent of public instruction. The advancement of public schools in a rough-and-tumble pioneer state was no easy chore.

“The creation of the State Normal School is not the only service for which Nebraska is indebted to this conscientious institution builder,” Howard wrote. “In broad outline, our present public school law and administrative forms and methods of the state department of superintendents were shaped by him. Our common school system and our great training school for teachers are the worthy monument of an earnest and modest life, a monument more lasting and more glorious than image of bronze or marble shaft.”

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LIFE ON THE HILLTOP returned to normal with the war’s end as the nation began adjusting to modern times and changing attitudes.

Sir John Foster Fraser, a renowned British world traveler and author, spoke at the chapel about the diplomatic perspective of other foreign powers. The Peru Normalite observed that “the great principle of internationalism is to get the other fellow’s point of view.”

Professor Hoyt praised the dawning of a new age that, he believed, proved the need for his field of instruction: “This is eminently the age of science and preeminently the age of chemistry, without which modern civilization and 20th century industry cannot live and move. Chemistry is fundamental and underlies all other sciences, touches every phase of human life and energizes almost every industrial activity.”

One of his prize pupils, Edison Pettit, had been appointed to the staff at Mount Wilson Observatory in California. “Dr. Pettit will be remembered as the keenest student in mathematics, physics and astronomy that Peru has ever seen,” the school paper said.

Hoyt also bought a wireless radio set in Lincoln and displayed its wonder to students on campus.

Automobiles were becoming more commonplace, even in the Nebraska countryside, and brick paving was completed through campus in 1920.

Women’s roles were part of the changes in post-World War I America, but Peru Normal had been ahead of the movement. The female students

The 1920 women’s basketball team.

continued to play an active role in campus life, taking part in student government and filling more than half of the roster of the debate team. The school also continued to be a prominent advocate of women’s involvement in sports.

“The day is passing when mothers forbid their girls to play basketball, saying that sweeping furnishes plenty of exercise,” said Jessie Downing, head of the physical training department.

The Normalite ran a poem dedicated to basketball star Doris Frye in 1919: “This lady seems very demure But she plays like a wind in a blizzard To put balls in the ‘bask,’ for her is no task, If you saw her, you’d say, ‘What a wizard!’ ”

PART III | 75

In the classroom, a special course was designed to prepare women, especially former graduates, for executive positions.

“The demands for women executives which have grown out of the war conditions, promise to be much larger than the supply,” the Normalite reported.

The school newspaper also provided a forum for evolving views on women’s rights and roles. Abba Willard Bowen wrote to praise a poetry reading by John Neihardt, but noted: “Mr. Neihardt’s idea of woman seemed to the reviewer his most obvious limitation. No doubt this arises partly from his specialized study of men in man’s big game – the exploration of the Missouri country. Doubtless his preoccupation with the problem of the development of life in its cosmic sense has also to do with it. At all events, he is content to conceive woman from the primitive standpoint of her function, ignoring the significance, quite as vital, of her personality.”

The newspaper urged giving women the right to vote: “It will make complete franchisement John Neihardt

of women, whose votes may be depended upon, not only to preserve us as a democracy in a political sense, but to preserve us as a nation and as a people in a social and moral sense.”

Peru’s women seemed ready for change, and they got it. The 19th Amendment, guaranteeing a woman’s right to vote, was ratified in August 1920.

Lillian Stoner, a former longtime Peru political science professor and preceptress, was on the Nebraska primary ballot that November, a candidate for secretary of state.

Etta Young, who had served with the Red Cross during World War I, had returned to teach in Omaha and was the first woman appointed to be a member of the State Normal Board. Tom Majors publicly welcomed her to the board at the midyear 1921 commencement, an event that had begun just the previous year.

76 | PART III

PAVED ROAD

Students waited to catch a ride from Peru to Nebraska City.

Students’ strong opinions weren’t confined to women’s rights.

One student’s editorial in the school paper criticized the failure to replace a broken drinking fountain on campus: “In the study of hygiene, we are told to drink at least three quarts of water each day. You would have a hard time doing that here, judging from the facilities we have for that purpose.”

Another opined on the “illogical pattern” of sidewalks on the hilltop campus: “Whenever a new building is constructed, and before the walks are put in, let the students make the paths and then construct walks over these paths. You of authority, think this over.”

PART III | 77

A brick road through town to campus was completed in 1920 after Peru State Normal and the town worked together to find the funds to pay for the work. Heavy automobile traffic wasn’t the driving force behind the road. The project arose more from the need to carry coal and supplies up the hill from the railroad station.

A 1921 Peru summer school brochure pointed out the success of graduates at schools across the state.

Grade-school students played ball on a field near the T.J. Majors Training School.

THE SCHOOL ON THE HILL was renamed Nebraska State Teachers College at Peru in 1921, part of a push to raise the profile of the state’s normal schools and return enrollments to pre-war levels. Peru began advertising in newspapers of the state’s need for 3,000 teachers, and it touted free tuition with room and board at $5 a week.

At the same time, some teachers schools were moving toward four-year degree programs, a change that provided added prestige. Peru, Chadron, Kearney and Wayne added four-year programs in 1921. “This is one of the greatest events in education since the establishment of the first State Normal in 1867,” said the Normalite.

Peru’s role in Nebraska education expanded further when the T.J. Majors Training School became a standard accredited four-year

W.N. Delzell

high school.

As the school’s mission grew, President E.L. Rouse, who had been appointed at the end of World War I, battled for higher faculty salaries and sent professor W.N. Delzell on the road to lure more Nebraska high school students to Peru.

But Rouse watched as some of his most valued instructors left for higherpaying jobs. He spoke to students about efforts to increase teacher pay – a popular subject among those pursuing a career in education.

“Some families who are now complaining about high taxes spent more for gas and rubber last year, to say nothing about the first cost of the automobiles, than they did for school taxes,” Rouse said.

In 1921, Rouse himself left to become Scottsbluff ’s school superintendent at a higher salary. “The school, the faculty, the community, as well as the school (officials) of the entire state, deeply regret the loss of this great man from our institution,” the Normalite said.

The departure sent the stark message that in terms of pay, Peru had fallen behind a public school district.

E.L. Rouse was a vocal advocate of higher salaries for teachers.

PART III | 79

The State Board of Education tried to address the compensation

A NEW NAME FOR NEW ERA President A.L. Caviness tied the name change from Peru State Normal to Nebraska State Teachers College at Peru to the nation’s readjustment after World War I had ended.

“The war period of high salaries and low standards in qualification for teaching is passing,” he wrote. “More students enter teacher training institutions and remain for longer and better preparation. ... A still brighter future is in store for this institution as a teachers college.”

issue by purchasing a home for the school’s president and hiring A.L. Caviness, superintendent of Kearney schools.

The move backfired.

Caviness received a chilly welcome, finding a college community that was displeased by cutbacks in salaries,

The president’s house was built by Jacob Good in 1892 and sold to James Crabtree, who sold it to D.W. Hayes. E.L. Rouse purchased it from Hayes, and the State Board of Education eventually bought it as the permanent residence for Peru’s leader.

which had grown during the period when the nation was at war.

Some faculty members also believed the T.J. Majors Training School was funneling money away from the college’s academic programs – just as a new four-year degree program was advanced. The unhappiness wasn’t limited to the staff. Students were upset that work on a new auditorium and gymnasium was delayed while repairs were made to the president’s new home.

Caviness had stepped into a sticky situation, through no fault of his own, and apparently struggled to improve his relations with faculty and students, many of whom felt he was indifferent to their concerns. Students at one point hung a sign on a dormitory that read, “Students who pay for their board here are not good enough to eat with the president.”

A.L. Caviness President, 1921-1923 Caviness took over as president after serving as superintendent of Kearney schools. He earlier had served as superintendent at Fairbury and as secretary for the State Normal Board. After the Legislature passed a bill authorizing Peru and the other state teachers colleges to grant bachelor’s degrees, his administration adopted a standard four-year teachers college curriculum. In addition, the campus high school became a standard and accredited four-year high school. Caviness said he planned to pursue business interests when he resigned.

80 | PART III

Early Homecoming activities included athletic contests by males in hula skirts.

During a regular convocation in February 1922, Caviness was greeted with silence after earlier speakers had received lusty cheers. He awoke the next morning to discover that his home had been painted overnight. On the steps was written, “Mene, mene, tekel upharsin,” Hebrew from the Book of Daniel taken to mean, “The writing is on the wall.”

The situation deteriorated to the point that a deputy sheriff fired three shots at students egging the president’s home.

The State Board of Education heard complaints against Caviness and received a petition seeking his removal signed by 160 Peru citizens, including some faculty members.

“I went to school there, and I got into mischief and devilment, but I was deterred by the influence of the management I respected,” Peru Town Council member O.J. Milsted told Caviness at the hearing. “The students have no respect for you to deter them.”

The board took no action at that time, but Caviness eventually resigned in 1923.

Accepting the resignation was Thomas J. Majors, still looking out for Peru as a member of the State Board of Education at age 82.

Majors had backed Caviness from the start, and as a result, he also faced demands that he resign amid charges that he had fired school staff members for signing the petition against Caviness.

“Tom Majors has been king of Peru Normal for many years,” said John Shroyer of Humboldt. “It seems that the State Normal Board has just conceded the whole and complete administration of that institution to Tom.” Majors denied that he had fired any teachers. “I am not such a czar as they try to make me out,” he said.

The Board of Education eventually cleared Majors of the complaints brought against him, and he was unanimously re-elected as board president. But the solution to getting Peru back on track was obvious: strong new leadership.

PART III | 81

PERU’S FIRST HOMECOMING Peru held its first Homecoming in November 1922.

“It renews and keeps up interest of former graduates in Peru College of today,” the Peruvian yearbook said in praising the inaugural event. “As soon as the alumni began to arrive, the spirit of host and hostess was kindled in each student.”

The faculty orchestra provided a concert for alumni on Thursday night, and a convocation was held Friday.

On Saturday, the alumni watched the freshman and sophomore classes square off in a football game, won 6-0 by the sophomores.

MEMBERSHIP IN CAMPUS ORGANIZATIONS

CAMPUS LIFE

1920s

remained the key to an active social life. Even the Philomathean Society, a literary group, sponsored events that encouraged fun and a chance for young men and women to get together. The

The spread of Brownie cameras made it easy to capture memories on film.

young men were blindfolded at one Philomathean party and placed in the center while women circled them. The men were told to point, and they learned their dance partner when they removed their blindfolds.

Kodak Brownie cameras were widespread and allowed students to snap photographs of their friends. Pictures of couples cuddling and holding hands might have shocked alumni who had attended Peru years earlier under the watchful eye of Eliza Morgan.

Campus food service was a popular topic for ridicule. The Peruvian yearbook reported a

“Who-rah, who-rah, who-rah-rah College, college, Ne-bras-ka White and blue, white and blue What’s the matter with Old Peru Blue and white, blue and white Teachers college, she’s all right”

student exclaimed about finding a tender piece of meat at dinner. “Impossible!” said another student.

“I just bit my tongue,” replied the first.

Victor Jindra (below, left) led the band at concerts in the new auditorium.

Homecoming provided opportunities to decorate houses and bring humor to campus.

Peruvian staff members had big plans for the 1927 yearbook.

Stability at the Top WALTER R. PATE WAS WELCOMED as Peru’s next president at a dinner hosted by Thomas J. Majors, who entertained the audience with stories of pioneer days, of choosing Lincoln as Nebraska’s capital and of securing the State Normal School for Peru.

Pate’s hiring in 1923 proved to be a major turn in Peru’s history. He changed the atmosphere from the moment he stepped on campus. “United, we can do great work,” he said in a message to faculty, staff and alumni. He later spoke of “Our Future” on an Omaha radio station that provided Peru with a half-hour of air time for a Thanksgiving program.

When he returned from his first Board of Education meeting, he was cheered by students in the chapel. He established a good relationship with them, wishing a good life to graduates in the yearbook with a note signed, “Your friend, W.R. Pate.”

He built upon the school’s tradition of caring faculty, which was reflected in the writing of one student: “We are guided and governed by professors who are real people. They’re the sort whose relations with us go deeper than a name on a paper – a number in a grade book. They worry when we board at the infirmary and beam when we win a contest, or a game, or a job.”

Pate came to campus just as construction projects were wrapping up. Students celebrated the opening of the college’s gymnasium and swimming pool, which the school newspaper proclaimed were the best collegiate athletic facilities in the state.

Also opening around that time was a 1,200-seat auditorium that would enhance the college’s The new auditorium allowed large audiences to attend popular events.

standing as a cultural center in southeast Nebraska.

Walter R. Pate President, 1923-1946 Pate, who graduated from the University of Nebraska and received his master’s at Columbia University, had served as principal of Danbury (Nebraska) High and as superintendent at Sidney and Alliance before coming to Peru. He held executive posts with several teachers organizations, including president of the State Teachers Association. Pate extolled the school’s benefits to audiences around the state. “Send your best to Peru, the best in dramatics, debating, athletics, in all school activities, the best in scholarship,” he told a gathering in Omaha. He was Peru State’s longest-serving president and held the title of president emeritus after he retired.

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A road was built past the power plant and around the south side of campus.

Nebraska was undergoing a building boom in roads – fueled by the Federal Aid Road Act and a 2-cent tax on gasoline, which cost about 20 to 25 cents a gallon at the time. The roads were needed to handle increasing numbers of cars: The total of state license plates issued rose from 273,000 in 1924 to 362,000 in 1926.

The graveled King of Trails, later called U.S. Highway 75, was completed west of Peru in 1926 and carried traffic south to Kansas and north to the Iowa border in the northeast corner of the state.

Keeping in step with change, the school paper abandoned the name Normalite in favor of Pedagogian after “Normal” was dropped from the school’s official name.

Auditorium Built in 1922 The old chapel annex on Normal Hall was demolished to make way for construction. The new auditorium was dedicated with a presentation of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” by the sophomore class of the 1922-23 school year. The building, which included motion-picture equipment, “is one of the best college buildings of its kind in the state,” the Peruvian stated.

The new auditorium allowed the chapel and gymnasium building to be remodeled into a full athletic facility.

The basketball court was installed on the main floor with a swimming pool in the basement.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

ROBERT D. HARRISON Class of 1926 Harrison served in the U.S. Army during World War I and attended Peru after the war. He later was superintendent of schools in Bradshaw and De Witt. After a career in farming and business, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1951 and served until 1959. He also served as the Nebraska director of the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation.

Coach Lon Graf ’s 1924 basketball team won a league title as part of a 54-game conference winning streak.

The men’s basketball team did its part to lift spirits on campus, rolling to 54 consecutive conference victories from 1921 to 1926, which at the time was claimed as a national record.

What better time for Dean W.N. Delzell and Pedagogian sports editor Baldy Wilcox to lead the push to adopt the Bobcat as the school’s mascot?

George Hansen, class of 1912, donated a live bobcat to represent the school. “Bob” served nobly for more than a decade before he died, but a taxidermist ensured that he would remain at the school for years to come – on top of a trophy case.

Sports took another step forward in 1924 with the formation of the Women’s Athletic Association, which offered competition in volleyball, baseball, basketball, field hockey and swimming. “To the athletically inclined girl, it opens a most varied program of health and recreation,” the Peruvian noted.

While the women did not play an intercollegiate schedule, their competitive campus tournaments were well-attended by fellow students. The women also traveled to Lincoln at the end of each season to compete with teams from other Nebraska colleges.

The emphasis on athletics reached down to the training school. The girls high school basketball team was coached by Peru Normal alum Esther Blankenship, who had played on the 1920 team, said at the time to have been Peru Normal’s best ever.

The school also announced that it was beginning a high school basketball tournament for both boys and girls high school teams “to further the advancement of this fine, clean sport.”

Peru began an industrial arts program, hiring instructor A.V. Larson in 1926. Classes were held on the top floor of the heating plant, but Larson was told he would have a new building when funds were available. He immediately went to work on preliminary building designs for his new workplace. It would be a long wait, but eventually his designs were put to use.

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HONORARY SOCIETIES

Thomas J. Majors was reappointed to the State Board of Education in January 1927. Interviewed later that year on his 86th birthday, he reflected on the

Honor societies became a popular addition to college campuses in the 1920s. Peru State Teachers College was part of the movement:

60-year-old school he had helped found.

“I was told it would be impossible to get the state university for Peru,” he recalled of his efforts to get the teachers college for his hometown. “I am proud of it today with its more than a thousand students, its fine buildings and the natural beauty of its surroundings.”

• Sigma Tau Delta, an English honorary society, was organized at Peru in 1926 and is still active.

His old friend and co-founder, Major William Daily, had died a year earlier at age 97. An Omaha World-Herald editorial said, “Deprived of an education himself, (Daily) helped many others to

Thomas J. Majors

• Alpha Mu Omega, mathematics honorary, was organized in 1927 and is still active.

obtain one. Not a reader of many books, he made it possible for countless thousands to read all books.

He seemed to have a pretty accurate idea about the duty men owed to one another.

He helped boys and girls, individually and collectively, to an education and gave to many men and women what they called their ‘start in life.’ ” Majors celebrated his 88th birthday in the summer of 1929 and predicted that he’d live to 100. He hadn’t slowed down much, still serving as president of the State Board of Education and driving a car. However, it might have been time to give up the car keys: He was injured the next year in an auto accident with Pate as his passenger.

“As the state developed, and railroads began gridironing the commonwealth, the cry went up that Peru was inaccessible, that the school should be moved to some more convenient location,” reporter Will M. Maupin wrote in a tribute to Majors. “But it never was. As a member of the Legislature, as a member of the normal board, and as a politician who had a following, Colonel Majors was always on hand to protect his child. And the school, instead of being abandoned, has been growing all these years.”

In 1932, Majors attended the unveiling of a monument at Fort Kearny, where he had once served as commanding officer. A month later, he fell at his home and died of a heart attack at age 91, more than six decades after steering Nebraska’s first institution of higher learning to Peru. He had been the last surviving member of Nebraska’s Territorial Legislature.

“Of all the great and famous Nebraskans since territorial days, there has been none more thoroughly typical of the state, more truly representative of the people than Thomas J. Majors,” an Omaha World-Herald editorial noted. “His aspiration to the governorship was denied him.

But he accepted his defeats cheerfully and with good nature. He was content to close his life carefully nursing his beloved state normal school at Peru.”

More than any one person, Thomas Majors had provided the vision to guide Peru’s college on the hill through its first 65 years. Others would need to step up in the future.

PART III | 87

• Beta Beta Beta, science fraternity, was chartered in 1928 and is still active.

• Kappa Delta Pi, education honorary, was chartered in 1929 and is still active.

Other societies that organized later and are active are Phi Beta Lambda, business leadership; Alpha Chi, general scholarship; and Phi Epsilon Kappa, kinesiology and physical education.

The Philomathean Society (above) still was popular more than 50 years after it had begun and had expanded beyond a literary society.

The group purchased Liberty Bonds during World War I and redeemed them in 1928 to help pay for a new electric-bell system on campus.

THOMAS J. MAJORS MUST HAVE been pleased that Peru was in good hands when his stewardship finally ended. He died in the midst of a decade-long building program that greatly enhanced the tree-covered campus.

Work began in 1928 on the three-story Hoyt Science Building, named after longtime science professor Wilbur F. Hoyt, on the site of the old Normal Hall. It was completed the next year and featured a new rooftop observatory.

“Peru occupies a unique position as the only teachers college in the Midwest, if not in the U.S., which possesses a large telescope and gives astronomy and astronomical equipment their proper place in education,” Hoyt boasted.

Construction of Eliza Morgan Hall, named after the longtime preceptress, also was under way, to be opened in the fall of 1929 with room for 120 girls. “The new hall is the realization of the dreams and efforts of many of the faculty members, and in this hall they have supplied the need for a home for Peru girls, where the ideals of good living may be established,” the Pedagogian wrote.

AT H L E T I C H A L L O F FA M E

Football 1927 The Peru State football team outscored opponents 359-7 on the way to an 8-0 season record. The single touchdown by Kearney State in the season finale was the only score allowed. Coach Lon Graf, who also coached basketball, saw his Bobcats score 70 points or more three times and go over 90 twice. Some consider this the most dominant Nebraska college football season ever played.

Hoyt Science Building Built in 1929 The facility was built on the site of the old Normal Hall, adjoining the Auditorium, at a cost of $50,000. The building was dedicated in 1929, but students had to wait to use it until 1930, when funds became available to equip it. Professor Wilbur Hoyt died that same year. The original plan included a wing on the north end that would hold a lecture hall and a museum. Those plans were abandoned because of funding cutbacks during the Great Depression.

Students were signaled to classes by a new bell system, paid for by the previous three senior classes and the Philomathean Society.

Amid a period of constant change, there was time to reflect on the past. George Howard, who graduated in Peru’s first commencement in 1870, died in 1928. He was credited with groundbreaking research into how family roles changed along with society, countering notions at the time that expanding women’s roles were a threat to the nation. He also served as president of the American Sociological Society and was one of the founders of the Nebraska State Historical Society, serving as its secretary.

The other member of the class of 1870, Anna Moorhead Joy, was at the 1929 commencement ceremony, the 56th she had attended since graduating in 1870. The only three she had missed were when her family had moved to the West Coast for a few years.

“I have seen many changes and some additions,” she said of her alma mater. “In the first place, we had lots more Latin and mathematics than they do today. And literature occupied an important place.”

Eliza Morgan Hall Built in 1929 The girls dormitory was designed to house 120 and to connect with Mount Vernon Hall on the south. One housemother oversaw both dorms in the beginning. But when boys later began to use Mount Vernon as a dorm, fire doors were installed between the two buildings and a second housemother was hired. An addition was built onto Eliza Morgan Hall in the 1960s, but other planned renovations had to wait. A $5.5 million renovation was completed in 2012, with a new plaza area between the Student Center and the dorm.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

“Of course, there were none of the wild parties, either,” Joy said. “We had picnics and socials and played social games. Peru College also made much of debating, because our teachers believed it was the best way to learn clear expression.

I notice that the art has been

MARION MARSH BROWN Class of 1927 Brown received a bachelor’s degree at age 19 from Peru, where her mother, Genevie Marsh, was dean of women.

Brown received her master’s at 20 and later taught English at Peru from 1935 to 1937.

She wrote 20 books and was known mostly as a writer of biographies for junior high and high school students.

Her best known works were about Francis “Swamp Fox” Marion, a hero of the Revolutionary War; the youthful life of patriot-martyr Nathan Hale; Francis Scott Key, national anthem composer; and children’s storyteller Hans Christian Andersen.

revived lately. It shows our instructors were right.

“There was no domestic science course then. Instead, the girls learned how to cook in the kitchen of the wife of one of the professors. And many times we have said

Distinguished attendees at the 1932 commencement, from left: class of 1870 graduate Anna Moorhead Joy, former president James Crabtree, class of 1881 graduate Carrie L. Rivett, Dean W.N. Delzell and professor of languages Esther Clark. Crabtree said upon his return: “On leaving for other fields, I wondered whether my intense admiration for the old school and for the people of the state would continue. It has not only done so, but it has become more intense with the years. The more I have seen of other states and even of the nation’s capital, the more I love old Peru.”

that we learned more about cooking from her than most co-eds learn in their home economics courses.”

But while there was much to look back on nostalgically, the school also kept pace with fast-changing times.

Peru hosted events for high school students in music, drama and sports competitions.

A contest in drama and music drew more than 500 students from Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas.

The school also pushed ahead with its own sports, with women competing in volleyball, basketball, archery and baseball. This was particularly noteworthy, given that by the late 1920s, women’s sports had been diminished in Nebraska and across the nation. For example, the University of Nebraska’s dean of women had banned intercollegiate sports there because she felt they were “inadvisable for the girls’ health.”

And in 1927, state high school administrators approved a motion to prohibit girls from playing interscholastic basketball in Nebraska. While the motion referred only to basketball, it nevertheless had the effect of discouraging young women’s competition in other sports.

But Peru would not let the fire go out, as the administration continued to believe in the value of athletic competition for young women. The state would not catch up with Peru’s efforts in promoting girls high school sports until more than four decades had passed.

Bobcat athletics blazed another trail in 1930, when lights were installed at the Oak Bowl, allowing the introduction of night games five years before major league baseball made the move.

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President Pate took visiting Board of Education members to the field one night for a demonstration and proudly threw the switch to turn on the lights – which sent a number of student couples All of Peru’s 1931 Oak Bowl games were under the lights.

scurrying to get back into the dark.

The athletic program caused another minor stir when a state

deputy auditor questioned a $3 expenditure for “cat meat.” Pate wrote back that during the Christmas holiday there had been no cafeteria scraps to feed the school’s new bobcat mascot, which had been a gift from an alumnus to replace the departed “Bob.” Pate realized fully that athletics and activities were a drawing card for Peru as he actively sought to increase enrollment. He credited alumni spirit with ensuring continued success at Peru, whose enrollment stood at 488 in the spring of 1930.

That spirit was represented especially well by Dr. and Mrs. J.H. Naviaux of Nebraska City, who sent nine children to Peru over the years.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE DALE DYKE Class of 1933 Dyke began teaching after graduating and eventually went to work at the Martin Bomber Plant in Bellevue during World War II. After the war, he was a test engineer for Hughes Aircraft in California and helped to build “the Spruce Goose,” the world’s largest airplane.

Alumni continued to make good use of their diplomas. Two graduates, James Hosic (class of 1891) and Clyde B. Moore (class of 1909), were professors of education at Ivy League schools.

James Crabtree, the class of 1887 prankster and former Peru Normal president, was enjoying a national profile as secretary of the National Education Association in Washington, D.C., the world’s largest professional teachers organization.

Roots of a Career in Theater E.P. Conkle got his first taste of theater while enjoying plays performed on the Peru State Normal campus. He graduated in 1919 and received advanced degrees from the University of Nebraska. He began writing his own plays while teaching and furthering his education, and his works eventually were performed on Broadway and at theaters across the country.

In 1931, the Peru Dramatic Club presented Conkle’s one-act play, “Sparkin’.” The Ped’s review said, “This little farce-comedy was very amusing and from the delighted murmurs of the audience, we are sure everyone present enjoyed it.” He also helped judge a campus drama contest for high school students from Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas.

Conkle continued to write, publishing more than 50 scripts for plays.

But he perhaps left a bigger mark as a teacher E.P. Conkle and drama coach at the University of Iowa and the University of Texas. Among his students were Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tennessee Williams, Tony Award-winning Broadway star Tommy Tune and actors Pat Hingle and Fess Parker.

CAMPUS LIFE

1930s

THE PERUVIAN YEARBOOK STAFF surveyed 385 students in 1932 to learn, “Where do Peru students spend their money?” The results showed they spent $94 a year for clothing, $8 for school supplies and $9.50 for dry cleaning, plus $22 a month for room and board.

About half of the students said they went to the movies at least once a week.

A Pedagogian survey reported that half of men were wholly or partially supporting themselves during the Depression years. “This is in direct refutation of the statement commonly set forth by some that the youth of today do not appreciate the value of an education to the extent of sacrificing anything in return.”

The newspaper took Peru’s male students to task about their dating etiquette. A student journalist offered up this sarcastic advice to them: “Remain seated when she comes into the room. She will think this is caveman-ish and adore you for it.”

Intramural sports grew in popularity with basketball and volleyball drawing the largest numbers of students. A new sport, ping-pong, also filled the gymnasium with activity.

Reading the paper in the morning (left).

Boating on the Missouri River.

Proud Peruvians pose (below).

A fearsome entrance for homecoming at Eliza Morgan Hall.

The “Fast Steppers� dancers.

A Peru Dramatic Club performance.

PATE’S QUEST TO BUILD up the school and add students ran head-on into the Great Depression. The Legislature in 1933 cut the State Board of Education’s two-year budget 20 percent below the two-year appropriation of 1931. The reduction came in spite of a record enrollment of 498 for the fall of 1932.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH The Peru State College community was well aware of the hardship caused by the Great Depression, despite the relative comforts of campus life.

In 1932, Peru’s faculty provided funds to purchase a train carload of grain for farmers in droughtstricken northcentral Nebraska.

“The financial depression has made it difficult for many to remain in college, yet they have remained in greater numbers (at Peru) than in better times,” Pate said, then observed, “The things most worthwhile which a college has to offer are not bought with silver and gold.”

To Pate’s credit, he kept his school focused on its mission while managing the budget cutback.

Music professor Victor Jindra wrote to a newspaper that even though he had received a pay cut, he saw “a changed atmosphere in the school room, a message of renewed faith and hope.”

James Crabtree also delivered an upbeat outlook in his 1933 commencement address, telling the audience, “In the 1870s, after such a crisis as we are now experiencing, youth came forward and led the way. It has done so in every great crisis. It will do so in this crisis.”

Students on campus managed to escape much of the grim economic atmosphere of the Great Depression.

The faculty members obtained free shipment from railroads and provided the grain to be used as feed for starving livestock in an area suffering from a three-year drought, followed by a plague of grasshoppers.

The students pitched in as well.

The YWCA “adopted” two girls from the area and provided them with clothing.

They also collected money to help classmates who were struggling financially.

The State Teachers College at Peru bolstered its offerings in industrial arts through the Depression years.

Drafting and woodworking were part of the instruction geared toward producing teachers who could develop skilled workers in high schools. Members of the Epsilon Pi Tau honorary society sponsored a MINK industrial arts contest featuring competition from high school students in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas.

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Training school classrooms were crowded during the 1930s.

Enduring the Great Depression PERU’S ENROLLMENT DURING the Great Depression was no doubt helped by the struggles of private schools with higher tuitions. A number of regional schools that had been founded by religious groups, as Peru had been originally, closed during the 1930s as their enrollments plummeted:

• Grand Island College, founded by the

Emily

Veloura

Zelma

EDUCATION VALUED DURING TOUGH TIMES

Baptist Church of Nebraska, fell into

The Sapp family put a high value on education, even when times were

trouble in 1930 and eventually was

tight during the Great Depression. Hurless Sapp went broke in the cattle

merged into Sioux Falls College.

business, and he and wife Emily Hubka Sapp lived in rental houses on

• The Catholic-based Trinity College of Sioux City was closed in 1932, and its personnel and resources were diverted to St. Francis College in Pennsylvania.

• Cotner College of Lincoln, founded

farms around southeast Nebraska, moving every year. Their children would later recall homes without running water, which required their mother to go out to a windmill to pump water and carry it back to the house.

But Emily, who had attended Peru State Normal and taught school until 1919, insisted that their seven children would get a good education.

by the Disciples of Christ, suspended

Daughters Veloura and Zelma followed her path at the State Teachers

operations in 1933 when its enrollment

College in Peru and later taught in one-room schools. Zelma ended up

dropped to 107. Plans to reopen in 1935

teaching younger brother Bill when he was in 8th grade. Bill and brothers

ended when a drought cut farm incomes.

Lee, Dean and Ray founded Sapp Bros. Travel Centers and Petroleum.

Pate spent two hours one night at the women’s dorm trying to ward off a “panty raid” by a hundred masked male students. The school president was injured slightly when things grew rough, and windows, light bulbs and doors were damaged.

The girls in the dorm apparently did little to discourage the horseplay, running through the halls in their pajamas while the melee ensued. One of the masked boys was recognized and later suspended for his part in the raid.

A LEADER IN EDUCATION The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools in 1933 transferred Peru’s accreditation to “college” status to reflect the school’s four-year program initiated during the 1920s.

Peru State Teachers College was one of the first teachers colleges to become fully accredited after the North Central Association changed the way it reviewed the schools.

In another incident, three young women were suspended in 1933 for violating the school’s no-smoking rule, although they protested that they had been off campus at the time.

Most students, however, focused on more serious concerns. Two African-American students from the University of Nebraska spoke on race relations. “To have true harmony in music you must play on both the black and white keys,” Arnold Walker told the Peru audience.

“So in order to have harmony in the world, all races are needed.”

Peru students had more of a say in campus decision-making with the beginning of the Student Advisory Council. The organization would change names over the years – from Student Council to Student Senate to Student Governing Association – but the goal would always be to bring together the students with the faculty and administration to improve the school.

In 1936, Anna Moorhead Joy died at age 90, the last surviving member of Peru’s first graduating class in 1870.

While attending Peru Normal, she had chopped wood for the stove to heat her room and attended classes at the school’s only building. As a regular attendee at commencement, she had watched her school grow into a modern college and had seen two sons, two daughters and two granddaughters graduate. Her family would set the standard for loyalty to the school.

Peru’s early promotion of women’s sports continued to display its impact.

Alumna Ruth E. Clark coached a boys basketball

The group’s process to accredit schools was much more than just a rubber stamp.

Omaha University had been turned down the previous year.

team in Oregon for 14 years while losing just three conference games. Clark, who also was principal at the school, had played at Peru. After her junior year, the 1921 yearbook said of the women’s basketball players, “May the spirit continue to grow until the girls will be given equal recognition with the boys in athletics.”

Meanwhile, Peru senior Leota Jung, who held the national high school record for the high jump, was preparing for the 1940 Olympics under the watchful eye of women’s physical education instructor Phyllis Davidson. Jung’s Olympic dreams ended when the 1940 Games were canceled because of World War II, but she enjoyed a long athletic Phyllis Davidson oversaw women’s sports.

96 | PART III

career after college, playing and coaching softball.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

JAMES PERDUE Class of 1937 Perdue was an officer in Kappa Delta Pi honorary at Peru and embarked on a successful career in education.

Coach Al Wheeler wore a hat and business suit for games in his early years.

Peru State in 1938 welcomed a new football coach, Al Wheeler, who had been an outstanding athlete in his playing days at tiny Oberlin College in Ohio. In 1922, Wheeler threw the winning touchdown pass in a 7-6 victory over powerful Ohio State, which had won the Rose Bowl the previous season.

Wheeler struggled to a 1-7 record in his first football season at Peru, but his debut in basketball was spectacular. The Bobcats set a school record with 19 wins and captured their third straight conference title. They capped off the season by qualifying for the national tournament and beating defending champion Central Missouri State Teachers College in the quarterfinals.

Peru finished an all-time best fourth place in the national tourney.

Wheeler had the football program turned around by his second year, finishing with a 7-1-1 record and a conference championship. The Bobcats followed that with a 7-0-2 campaign in 1940, the school’s first undefeated season in 13 years. Peru shut out five opponents and beat Wayne State to avenge its only loss from 1939.

Peru sports coverage could be heard on a radio program produced by students and carried on a station in Shenandoah, Iowa. The program aired on Tuesday nights and began with the ringing of the old chapel bell, followed by a recording of the school’s “Color Song.”

In addition to sports, the show included Peru news and performances by student musicians and vocalists under the direction of Victor Jindra. He was putting to good use the lessons he had learned at a 1938 conference in Detroit, titled, “How Can Music Best Serve the Basic Purpose of Education?”

Jindra also helped oversee the annual high school music festival, which by this time was drawing more than 1,000 competitors from Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas.

PART III | 97

In 1967, he was named president of the State University of New York-Oswego – considered the nation’s first normal school and the alma mater of 19th century Peru President A.W. Norton.

Perdue was credited with overseeing a major building program at Oswego before leaving to become associate chancellor of SUNY in 1977. Perdue received Peru’s Distinguished Education Service Award in 1967.

INSPIRING

FACULTY

W.N. DELZELL Dean Delzell taught mathematics and organized the college’s Commerce Department. He was saluted by the Peruvian for “unselfish service, sympathetic understanding and loyalty.”

A.V. LARSON Industrial Arts Larson initiated courses such as oxy acetylene welding and auto mechanics to meet the needs of a changing industrial world. He served as the faculty advisor for Epsilon Pi Tau, the industrial arts fraternity, when it was established in 1932. He also ran a manual arts contest for MINK (Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas) high school students that included woodworking, metal work, mechanical drawing and tool conditioning, along with a MINK dramatic arts contest.

VICTOR H. JINDRA Music Jindra was the man behind the music at the college for decades. He also provided instruction to training school students and would encourage them to attend Peru State. “It is something called personality which lies behind the baton that has made Professor so beloved in Peru,” the Peruvian said. “Mr. Jindra, the band instructor, says (jokingly) that he has the best band between here and the Missouri River. We want to add that we think it is the best band, not only between here and the Missouri River, but for a good many miles both sides of the river.”

NORMA DIDDEL Art Diddel encouraged students to enter art competitions, including a landscape contest sponsored by a local newspaper and an Ivory Soap sculpture contest sponsored by Procter & Gamble.

She was one of 20 art professors chosen nationally for a Carnegie fellowship at Harvard in 1941.

She promoted art on campus with exhibits and with the addition of sculptures to the grounds.

Diddel represented Peru at the American Federation of Arts national conference held in Omaha.

PAUL MAXWELL Education Maxwell was the longtime head of the Education Department. He felt that education, next to the ministry, offered the widest opportunity to guide people. Maxwell told members of Kappa Delta Pi education fraternity that the chief aim of their field was to remake the world and that confusion was caused by the inability of ideas to adapt to the rise of science. He believed that the school should help individuals form their own opinions, not do it for them.

Family finances began to improve as the nation was emerging from the Great Depression, and Peru welcomed a record 275 freshmen to the hilltop in the fall of 1938. Total enrollment passed 500, a 40 percent increase over the previous school year, and crowded classrooms and book shortages were reported.

The financial picture for Nebraska’s state colleges also was improving. An audit in 1938 found Peru’s finances to be in sound condition, and the State Board of Education began looking into the possibility of a men’s dormitory.

The 1939 Peruvian yearbook took note of the school’s rebound in fortune: “We present to you Peru, with its Campus of a Thousand Oaks, with its perpetual spirit of youth, with its lasting traditions deeply rooted in the past ... a college whose cherished memories are unforgettable, whose beloved friendships even distance cannot change.”

That was later reported to be the first written reference to Peru’s “Campus of a Thousand Oaks.” Peru’s local radio show had closed with the words, “You have been listening to a program from the Campus of a Thousand Oaks.”

The dormitory specifically built for men was completed in 1939, with nearly half of the funding from a Public Works Administration grant. The young men paid $1.50 a week for room and board, with a few rooms at $1.75.

After receiving a student petition, the school board named the dorm after W.N. Delzell, who had been at Peru from 1903 to 1940 and spent his final 17 years as dean of men.

Open house was held in April 1940. Sadly, the newly retired Dean Delzell died in June.

“For the first time since 1905, Dean Delzell’s shining brown desk in the college office was void of a certain wistful smile,” a student wrote.

The dormitory was formally dedicated in Delzell’s honor in 1942. The Peruvian noted, “The new men’s dormitory stands as a milestone to the Peru of the future, toward which present students and administration are striving.”

Delzell Hall Built in 1939 The original design was noteworthy for including more community space for residents, including a large recreation area in the basement and a lounge off the lobby. The dorm’s opening didn’t go quite as planned.

Students who had applied for living space in the dorm were required to bunk in the gymnasium for two months until it was finished. Delzell served an important role during World War II, housing students in the military training program. A renovation was completed before the opening of the 2004-05 school year, part of a series of improvements on campus.

THE SADIE HAWKINS DANCE was one of the most popular events of the school year at Peru in the 1940s. Girls could invite the boys, an idea that came from the hillbilly comic strip “Li’l Abner,” and students were urged to “kick off their shoes and dance barefooted.”

CAMPUS LIFE

1940s

When the student newspaper, the Pedagogian, asked girls to describe the ideal man, Betty McArdle responded, “Swell all-around guy, meaning he’s got to have ‘it.’ ” The boys might have needed a push to attend the dance. Some reported they had played so much with the pinball machines on campus that they had “the jitters.”

Wrigley’s chewing gum and Coca-Cola were doing enough business at Peru that they advertised in “the Ped.” An industrious student reporter figured out that the average student on campus was downing 3.6 Cokes per week.

Complaints about firecrackers at Delzell men’s dorm began at the start of the school year and continued late into the fall. “Won’t Santa Claus get the surprise of his life when he comes down the chimney and lands on a keg of dynamite?” student Truman Lytle wrote in the Ped. A world at war didn’t put an end to campus humor. A flier making the rounds was labeled, “What to do in case of an air raid.”

Among the tips: “Eat onions, limburger cheese, etc. before entering a crowded air raid shelter” to clear space for yourself.

Naval trainees from the V-12 program took part in campus activities, and veterans did as well after the war. The 1948 senior class president and vice president were both veterans.

Faculty members, like the students, enjoyed a chance to unwind. From left, history professor Winston Thorson, English professor Arthur Bradford, English professor Robert Moore, music professor G. Holt Steck and science professor J.M. Winter.

Girls serenaded the boys at Delzell Hall as part of freshman initiation at the beginning of the school year. The Pedagogian warned that the initiation program, while “mild here at Peru compared to other colleges,” was starting to see students go too far. “Their oral abuses aim at the heart of inter-student friendliness,” the newspaper said.

Freshman initiation meant beanies and other indignities.

The front steps of Eliza Morgan Hall (left) was a good place to gather.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE CHARLES GABUS Class of 1940 Gabus attended Peru, along with his wife, Frances, his parents, brother Jack and two aunts.

He taught school in Nebraska, Wyoming and Iowa before going into business.

He went on to a career in car sales and started Charles Gabus Ford in Des Moines, one of the Midwest’s largest Ford dealerships, along with several other auto dealerships in the Des Moines area.

Peru Does Its Part WAR BEGAN IN EUROPE in 1939, and while America was not yet engaged, Peru’s campus was all too aware of events abroad.

National news correspondent Howard Pierce Davis told students in 1940 after returning from Europe: “Only if we retain poise, a rational approach and a determination not to sacrifice freedom can we save this thing called democracy.”

The threat in the Pacific was brought home later that year when President Walter Pate’s daughter Mildred returned from a teaching stint in Japan after President Franklin Roosevelt warned Americans of the danger in staying. “They are without a doubt the five most interesting and exciting months I have spent in my life,” she said.

Peru State began civilian pilot instruction in 1940 to help meet the needs of the expanding aviation industry. Peru Mayor L.B. Mathews, a science professor, announced that the city would lease 100 acres to build an airport that could be used in the training.

The necessary 72 hours of classroom work included lessons in meteorology, navigation and regulations, plus 35 to 40 hours in the air. “It’s a good deal,” said student William Shepherd.

“The biggest sensation came in coming out of a spin.”

The Civil Aeronautics Authority certified the program and compared it to those in some large cities. The timing was fortunate. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the instruction was converted to military purposes, and those who had completed training could go directly into the U.S. Army or Navy air service.

Peru State’s civilian pilot program was folded into the U.S. Navy’s V-5 training and made use of a landing strip built on 100 acres near town. V-5 later became part of the new V-12 program.

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Educators did their best to help students understand the ramifications of America’s entry into the conflict.

“We are now at war – a war which will involve our total man power, total woman power and total resources,” President Walter Pate said after Pearl Harbor. “As a group of college people, we need to face these facts and to recognize that neither business nor our way of living can go on as usual.”

History Department head Castle Brown told students just weeks later that a large number of Americans were already being held in Japanese prison camps and that their treatment might not meet the standards of international law. “In the case of the Japanese, the restraint is likely to be weakened by the fact that they regard capture as disgraceful,” he warned. His fears proved to be well-founded three months later when reports of the Bataan Death March arrived in the States.

AT H L E T I C H A L L O F FA M E

Men’s Basketball 1938-39 The Bobcats rolled to a 19-6 record – the most wins ever at the time – in Coach Al Wheeler’s first season. They made their second straight trip to the National Association for Intercollegiate Basketball (later NAIA) Tournament in Kansas City and defeated defending champion Central Missouri State. They lost in the semifinals and ended up fourth, the school’s highest finish ever.

Left to right, Bob Halladay, Jack McIntire, Leonard Greathouse, Lester Mosley and Russell Bailey.

The Navy V-12 program put the football field to good use with its drills.

Delzell Hall became home to the U.S.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Navy’s V-12 training program and was

KEN BOXLEY

the first time in the fall of 1942.

V-12 program Boxley spent only a few months at Peru State as part of a U.S. Navy officer training program during World War II but never forgot his time there. It was the only college he ever attended.

He went on to found a company that printed Yellow Pages directories in Southern California.

When he sold the firm in 1986, Boxley said he found himself with “more money than I could spend in this lifetime” and became a generous Peru supporter.

known as “the ship.” The dorm was filled for Nearly 500 young men received basic officer instruction, from both faculty members and naval instructors, before being sent to the Navy’s midshipman training. The “gobs,” as they were called, helped to supplement the male population, which had been diminished by the war.

Coach Al Wheeler directed the trainees in calisthenics, and many competed in sports. In fact, 11 of the 12 men who lettered in track one year were naval trainees.

The young men also performed in theater,

A blind student, Melvin Rothmiller of Omaha, received his diploma in 1944 after an exemplary four years. He memorized Peru’s hilly walks and found his way around campus with a cane.

played in bands and helped balance the male-female ratio at social events.

The yearbook took note of the nation’s entry into World War II: “We at Peru State stand behind our country to let all nations know that such a destiny is written – the destiny of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – in a time when all nations of the world are at war, to determine whether that destiny shall continue.”

Both faculty and students went off to war.

Executive Dean J.A. Jimerson, a World War I veteran, was commissioned a captain with the Army Air Forces. Paul C. Sweetland, a math and physics professor who had headed the civilian pilot instruction, joined the Army Air Forces for officer training.

AT H L E T I C H A L L O F FA M E : F O OT B A L L , 1 9 4 0 The Bobcats posted the school’s first undefeated football season since 1927 by finishing 7-0-2.

Coach Al Wheeler’s team shut out five opponents and clinched its second straight conference title with a victory over Chadron State in the season’s last game.

Naval trainees drilling became a common sight on the streets of Peru during the war.

John P. Heck, class of 1938, was the first Peru graduate to be killed in service during the war when his plane crashed during training in September 1942. Ensign Bob Halladay, a Bobcat basketball star, died in another air crash a few months later. And in late December 1942, Peru’s World War I flying ace, Orville “Wab” Ralston, died when his B-17 crashed during a training flight in Montana. Ralston had returned to service at age 48 after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Not all war stories had sad endings. Bill Rachow enlisted in June 1942 after his junior year and joined a B-24 crew, serving as bombardier. His plane was shot up over Vienna and landed in Yugoslavia. He and his crewmates walked away and eventually rejoined U.S. forces.

He returned to Peru after the war to finish his schooling and had a long career in education, retiring in 1984 as superintendent of the Gering school district.

AT H L E T I C H A L L O F FA M E : N AV Y V - 5 / V - 1 2 T E A M S , 1 9 4 3 - 4 5 With World War II underway, Peru State Teachers College athletic teams were manned mostly with trainees from the Navy V-5 aviation cadet and V-12 officer training programs. While many schools were forced to cancel competitive athletics during the war, Peru’s campus was able to maintain a sports program to keep morale high on campus. “Al Wheeler has whipped those naval trainees into a potent crew,” Omaha University’s coach said after a loss to Peru.

Orville “Wab” Ralston

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

ON THE HOME FRONT, Peru busily did its part for the war effort but still was able to celebrate its 75th anniversary in 1942.

“During its 75 years of life, Peru College has made progress personified,” the Peruvian yearbook said. “To such people as Mr. and Mrs. John M. McKenzie, Colonel T.J. Majors and Major William Daily, Peru College owes its beginning.”

Students began to “make do, or do without” to help conserve resources and money to battle the nation’s enemies. Women gave up corsages for the 1942 spring formal, imploring their beaus to spend the money instead on relief drives and war bonds.

Even the younger students at the training school contributed, conducting a scrap metal drive and selling war bonds.

CLAIR CALLAN Class of 1942 After graduation, Callan served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He worked in farming and business while pursuing a career in politics. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1965 to 1967.

Callan had a hand in helping write history during his two years in Congress.

During that time, federal social service programs Medicare and Medicaid were created, and the 1965 Voting Rights Act was passed.

The college addressed the metal shortage by making repairs on its 23-year-old truck used to pick up coal from Nebraska City. Among the repairs were a switch and a starter to replace the old crank system of starting.

The Missouri River flooded again in April 1943, as it had the previous year, closing the school for a time. Faculty and students, their numbers reduced by the manpower needs of the war, were forced to work day and night at the riverfront to keep the water under control. The college’s

Sports continued on campus during the war.

home economics kitchens were put to use to prepare meals for the workers.

Peru tried to provide stability for its students during the war years with a full slate of social events, activities and sports, all of them bolstered by the participation of the naval trainees on campus.

The hilltop also continued to provide enrichment to area high school students.

Kansas basketball legend Phog Allen took part in a basketball clinic in 1944 that drew more than 300 high school athletes.

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V-12 program trainees conducted chemistry experiments.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE WILLIS WIRTH Class of 1938 Wirth majored in biology and earned a master’s in entomology at Louisiana State University and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.

He worked in the U.S. Public Health Service during World War II on malaria control and quarantine service. He later became a research entomologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. He was considered the world’s foremost authority on ceratopogonidae, or biting midges.

Peru’s Scientific Role in the War FORMER PERU PROFESSOR G. Robert Coatney became known to many as “Mr. Malaria” for his work on malaria research programs during World War II and the Korean War. Coatney had lost a teaching and research job at Nebraska Wesleyan during the depths of the Great Depression, but the sudden death of Professor W.R. Carter brought him to Peru State Teachers College in 1933. Coatney felt fortunate

LEO HENRY PETRI

to find a teaching job and conducted some of his most important

Class of 1937

research during his five years on the hilltop, including the description and naming of 15 new species of protozoan blood parasites.

Coatney recalled the phone ringing late one night while he was

G. Robert Coatney

working on research with two students. “The president (Walter Pate) says you must turn out the lights up there,” he was told. “You are wasting too much electricity.” Bending to Pate’s directive, they finished their work the next morning and isolated pigeon malaria from birds roosting on campus.

Coatney published a paper in the American Journal of Hygiene in 1938 that eventually led to his career in the National Institutes of Health, where he was chief of the Laboratory of Parasite Chemotherapy. With World War II approaching, the NIH was asked to develop drugs in the event that Americans would have to fight in areas with a high incidence of malaria. The work required testing experience that only Coatney had. He set up the program that eventually led to the development of the drug chloroquine to combat malaria, and his research also provided the foundation for future advances in malaria treatment. He co-authored three authoritative books on malaria, and his research produced 200 papers. The malarial species p. coatneyi was named after him.

Petri received a bachelor’s in biology while studying with G. Robert Coatney.

He earned a master’s in parasitology from the University of Nebraska in 1941 and took a job at Kansas State. When World War II broke out, he enlisted in the army and was assigned to the 36th Malaria Survey Unit, doing laboratory work in India and China.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

MARGARET FITCH Fitch sold her horse to pay for summer classes at Peru and took her first teaching job at age 16 during World War II. She later received bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Omaha and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

She taught at schools in Cass and Sarpy Counties before joining the Omaha Public Schools, where she later moved into administration. She was a principal at elementary and junior high schools and later an assistant superintendent.

Cokes and a chat helped pass the time in 1943.

Still, to some extent, campus life couldn’t help but be subdued. Maxine Blinde Haack recalled being crowned homecoming queen: “It was a thrilling experience for me, as it is for anyone who is chosen for the honor. However, our country was at war and the atmosphere is not as relaxed and jubilant at such times, and many people other than college students or close residents were unable to attend due to gas rationing.”

A Pedagogian editorial lectured students on their responsibilities during war: to study, to participate in Civil Defense drills and to stand ready for a role in the nation’s defense.

The newspaper shipped out copies to bases and provided addresses of alums serving abroad, encouraging students to write. The servicemen and women wrote back, and the Pedagogian ran their letters. Corporal Warren Routh told of his unit being surrounded by German troops in North Africa. “We fought for two days under shelling, dive bombing and infantry attacks before we received word that we couldn’t expect any help and should get out the best way we could.” He and his comrades trudged through rugged terrain for two days before finally reaching American lines.

Women students were needed in the war effort as well, not only for the military, but to fill jobs in defense manufacturing or in positions vacated by men who had gone off to war.

Margaret Fitch, a 16-year-old freshman at Peru with just one summer of classes to her credit, wanted to fill Nebraska’s shortage of teachers. “I wanted to go to Auburn,” Fitch recalled.

“The Cass County school superintendent was giving exams to people who might qualify to teach in country schools that fall.”

The problem was that she needed to take an early bus, and the dormitory had a curfew.

“I was on the second floor, and I opened the window and lowered myself to the ground on a rope,” she said.

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Mount Vernon Hall was still in use as a dormitory during the war years.

Fitch passed the exam and was promptly certified to teach. The next month she found herself in charge of one-room Mount Pleasant School at Nehawka. “That was an exciting day!”

Fitch recalled years later.

On V-E Day in May 1945, townspeople, students and faculty gathered in the college auditorium to celebrate. They sang “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” then observed a moment of silence. President Pate told the audience that much remained to be done in the months ahead in the Pacific Theater and quoted parts of the Gettysburg Address.

The attendees then sang “The Star Spangled Banner” before a benediction.

There was no such observance for V-J Day, which occurred before the beginning of the 1945-46 school year. The V-12 Program closed down on campus in October.

The Peruvian dedicated its 1946 edition “to those Peruvians who gave themselves that the good things for which our college stands might not be lost to the race of men ... who laid their own bright dreams of life and love and contentment as a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom ... who by their selfless commitment to a high cause have taught us to hold fast to our faith in humankind and in the practicability of ideals ... and who through the years ahead will inspire us to a better effort to make secure these values for which they gave their lives.”

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Students from Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas filled the auditorium stage for the 1945 MINK musical festival.

The original MINK event had featured competition, but during the war, the focus was changed to clinics that provided professional instruction from college musicians.

The yearbook listed 16 young men with college ties who had died during the war, including eight who had served in air units.

The tenure of President Walter R. Pate came to an end. He retired in 1946, becoming Peru’s first emeritus president after having led the school for 23 years – through the Roaring ’20s, the Great Depression and World War II. In spite of the sometimes cataclysmic outside events during the period, the school had continued to reach new heights.

The Pedagogian saluted Pate on his departure: “President Pate has been unceasingly optimistic. He has had great hope for the future, and particularly the future of education.

His educational creed, as expressed in both his words and actions, has been that it is education and education only which can save democracy. To him, the strength or weakness of democracy is in the strength or weakness in its schools.”

William L. Nicholas President, 1946-1950 Nicholas, a Kearney State graduate who received his master’s and doctorate from Colorado State College, came to Peru as president after serving with the Nebraska Department of Vocational Education.

He also had been dean of men and director of teacher placement at Kearney State Teachers College and had served as a principal in Tryon, Nebraska. Nicholas helped push the Legislature to allow state colleges to grant liberal arts degrees in addition to education degrees. He initiated efforts to improve students’ understanding of personal finances and headed the state’s educational advisory committee for the Savings Bond program. He also opened the Peru State infirmary to area junior high and high school students for examinations as part of a school-community health project.

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THE WAR’S END, along with Walter Pate’s departure, brought a new round of significant changes. The GI Bill of Rights, signed into law just 16 days after D-Day in 1944, transformed college campuses, including Peru’s. The program provided about $500 yearly for tuition, plus a living allowance, and sparked a surge in college enrollment nationwide.

Fifty discharged servicemen showed up to register on the first day of spring classes in February 1946.

Donald Lieneman of Papillion and Dick Pascal of Weston enrolled after serving time in a German prison camp. Pascal got himself in shape quickly, joined the basketball team and was named to two all-state college teams.

One-time government barracks at Peru were turned into living quarters for vets and their families and named “Vetville.”

In 1947, the area had a population of 75, of which 21 were children, early evidence that a baby boom was underway.

William L. Nicholas, who had served as state supervisor of occupational information for the Nebraska Department

Peru’s hilltop campus was crawling with newcomers in 1946.

of Vocational Education, succeeded Pate as president.

Nicholas was forced to scramble to find instructors to fill out his faculty roster, which had been depleted by the war years and was now facing a heavy inflow of new students who had either been discharged from the service or whose jobs in the defense industry had ended.

Freshmen made up half of the student body for the 1946-47 school year.

“This miscellany of veterans, former teachers and just plain students who ‘happened’ together as a class has nevertheless been united by a common bond of sentiment for the campus, where they enjoyed many rich friendships,” the 1947 yearbook said.

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MAKING A DIFFERENCE WILLIAM D. FORD Ford attended Peru State in the 1940s under the Navy’s V-12 program and returned to the college after World War II. He later earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Denver. He was elected to the Michigan State Senate in 1962 and two years later was elected to his first term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

He served for more than three decades before stepping down in 1995.

During his years in Congress, he was chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Post Office and Civil Service and also chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor. Ford spoke at Peru State College’s 1988 commencement.

Discharged servicemen filled out the 1946 football roster.

Football Coach Al Wheeler also adapted to the unusual circumstances. He put together a 4-4-1 record in 1946, remarkable in light of the fact that 90 percent of his roster was discharged servicemen who hadn’t seen each other until the first day of practice.

The school even began a boxing team to accommodate the incoming veterans who had enjoyed the sport while in the service. Peru’s boxers took second in a tournament with other Nebraska colleges.

Pep clubs, the Blue Devils for boys and the White Angels for girls, provided vocal support for the athletic teams. The groups’ members sat behind Bobcat teams and even accompanied them for some road games. They also helped the athletic program by selling concessions Bobcats liked to box in the 1940s.

and conducting fundraising.

AT H L E T I C H A L L O F FA M E : M E N ’S B A S K E T B A L L , 1 9 4 7 - 4 8 First-year Coach Newt Kyle put together a 20-3 season, even though the Bobcats returned just four letter winners and two upperclassmen.

The Bobcats set a then-school record with the 20 victories, reeled off 13 straight wins from mid-January to mid-February and won the York Invitational and Nebraska College Conference tournaments. They also qualified for the NAIB Tournament in Kansas City for the fourth time in five years.

ANOTHER NAME CHANGE

Another major piece of sports news was the school’s sponsorship of a 20-team girls volleyball tournament beginning in 1946, under the direction of physical education instructor Phyllis Davidson. The tournament for more than 25 years would be the equivalent of the state tournament until the sport was officially sanctioned by the Nebraska School Activities Association.

During that time, Peru’s gymnasium would serve the community beyond the hilltop, as a site for the advancement of girls sports.

Blue Devils and White Angels took school spirit to a new level. The Blue Devils occasionally followed the Bobcats on the road, creating a clamor with cowbells in the bleachers.

When they weren’t making noise, the boys raised money to support banquets for the teams. The White Angels’ concessions sales helped fund athletics. Both organizations also organized school dances.

The school’s name changed again in 1949, this time to Peru State Teachers College. The new name already was in more common usage than the previous official name, Nebraska State Teachers College at Peru.

Nebraska high school volleyball teams flocked to Peru’s campus for the school’s annual tournament.

Another anniversary arrived as Peru State returned to normalcy in the postwar years.

Members of the marching band formed an “80” on the field at halftime of a football game at the Oak Bowl in 1947.

Helping to celebrate the school’s 80th anniversary was A.D. Majors, nephew of Tom and a graduate of Peru, who had joined the State Board of Education that year. A.D. was an experienced leader, serving earlier on the Omaha school board, as a regent for the University of Omaha and as president of the United States Livestock Association.

The basketball team rolled toward three straight conference championships, even A.D. Majors

though the 1948-49 team played all road games while the gym was being remodeled.

President Nicholas got the college to think beyond its boundaries with an expansion of the health services. A clinic was opened on campus for examinations of children before they entered school, an effort that reached throughout the surrounding area.

Peru opened its renovated gym in December 1949 by hosting a tournament with teams from Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri.

A crowd of 2,200 attended a formal dedication on the second night.

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Nicholas sought to continue to expand Peru’s mission. In 1949, the Legislature considered a measure to change the school’s name to Peru State Teachers College and to authorize liberal arts degrees.

The move faced a tough fight in the Legislature, however, where a Lincoln senator offered an amendment to close Peru unless the proposal for the new degree was withdrawn.

Nicholas fought back, saying, “Our prospective enrollees may fear to come to Peru if there is going to be a threat every two years to close the school.”

The bill passed on a narrow vote, and the school ended the year on a high note with the dedication of the new gymnasium.

There was little time for rejoicing.

The State Board of Education would soon begin to pull back on school funding as the wave of World War II veterans graduated and moved on.

The 1949-50 basketball team celebrated a conference title above the rim.

M E M O R I E S O F P E R U : TO M A N D D O R OT H Y ( M AY N A R D ) H A L L S T R O M , C L A S S O F 1949 Tom Hallstrom and Dorothy Maynard met while attending Peru State Teachers College and married in 1949. Tom credited Coach Al Wheeler with his decision to pursue a career in education. Dorothy was similarly inspired by kindergarten supervisor Elizabeth McCollum in choosing to teach that level.

Both Tom and Dorothy enjoyed careers with the Omaha Public Schools, and they retired together in 1988. Dorothy was named to the inaugural class of recipients for the Alice Buffett Outstanding Teacher Award.

Tom served as OPS director of physical education and athletics and was inducted into the OPS Athletic Hall of Fame and the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame. He was the first Nebraskan to enter the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Hall of Fame and in accepting in 2012, he told the audience in San Antonio that he owed a great deal to Peru State and to Al Wheeler, for “changing my life and making all of this possible.”

Crisis Management WILLIAM NICHOLAS TOLD HIS division heads in May 1949 that the declining enrollment would result in a smaller faculty and fewer class offerings. Paul Maxwell, head of the Education Department, made the needed changes for his division, targeting one position to be eliminated, that of Barney K. Baker.

Baker, who had been on staff since 1926, was told that he would not be retained after the end of the 1949-50 school year and was urged to begin seeking employment elsewhere during the upcoming school year. Nicholas offered to help but did not hear back.

Baker continued to teach until the day of the release of the next year’s class catalog, which did not include his name on the list of faculty members. On the next morning – April 25, 1950 – he went to the president’s office and shot and killed Nicholas.

From there, he found Maxwell and shot and killed him as well.

Baker then went home and took his own life.

The incident shocked not only Peru. Reporters from A plaque honoring Nicholas and Maxwell hangs by the entrance of the Administration Building.

newspapers in Lincoln and Omaha arrived quickly on campus after hearing the news. Rex Floyd, whose duties as director of special services included public relations, took calls from newspapers in London, Paris and Tokyo in the days that followed.

Neal S. Gomon took over from interim leader Wayne O. Reed in 1951 while the school still was looking to regain its bearings after the tragic deaths of Nicholas and Maxwell. With the Korean War raging, enrollment had fallen further, to 279. On top of that, some of the physical facilities were in need of updating.

Wayne O. Reed President, 1950-1951 Reed, a 1935 Peru State Teachers College graduate, left his post as state superintendent of public instruction when the State Board of Education asked him to replace William L. Nicholas after his tragic death. Reed had been a teacher at a one-room school and a high school, a principal and superintendent at Palmyra and in Otoe County. While Reed’s stint as Peru State’s president was short, his reputation and confidence helped the school through a trying time. He resigned to become assistant U.S. commissioner of education. By the time he retired in 1973, he had served under five presidents, 10 secretaries of Health, Education and Welfare and 10 commissioners of education.

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The Missouri River has always been a draw to Peru students, especially when the water was high.

But before he could tackle those issues, Gomon faced another hurdle. Toward the end of his first school year, he was forced to cancel classes because of Missouri River flooding.

Students turned out to battle the water in April 1952, as they had a decade earlier. “The entire student body, co-eds and male students alike, are working to hold the dikes north of town which protect the city’s water and light plants,” the Omaha World-Herald reported.

At one point, they worked in the rain filling sandbags, trying to raise the levee two feet over a seven-mile stretch as the crest of the flood approached. The students might have been following the advice of music professor Victor Jindra, whom the yearbook quoted as saying, “Give to your school the best that you have, and the best will come back to you.”

The students’ help was crucial. The levee at Peru was the only one between Omaha and Kansas City that held.

Neal S. Gomon President, 1951-1972 Gomon, who earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate from the University of Nebraska, had come to Peru in 1950 to head the language arts division. He had been superintendent at Niobrara, Alvo and Wymore; a Lincoln Star newspaper reporter for three years; head of the journalism department at Baxter (Tennessee) Seminary; an instructor of journalism at the University of Omaha; and field service director for the Nebraska State Education Association. He oversaw a major expansion of Peru’s facilities in reaction to the wave of students who flooded colleges in the 1950s and 1960s. Peru State College’s campus today reflects much of the overall design from his tenure.

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R. T. BENFORD Music In addition to heading the Fine Arts Department,

INSPIRING

FACULTY

Benford composed and arranged piano and choral works for student productions. His music was part of “Dance of Our Pioneers,� which was used to teach tap and square dancing. He was a 1928 graduate of Peru State Teachers College.

CASTLE BROWN History Brown was faculty sponsor for the social sciences honorary Pi Gamma Mu and would entertain gatherings at his home with his violin playing and lectures. He encouraged students to think of the world beyond campus and warned them against isolationism in the 1930s.

HAZEL WEARE Business Weare was the first sponsor for the Peru State Commercial Club, which organized in 1951.

The group helped bring professionals to campus to promote careers in all levels of business organizations, from secretaries to executives. She was a popular figure with students, giving parties and regularly attending sporting events.

JOHN CHRIST Science Christ was the longtime head of the science and mathematics division at Peru. In 1955, he was one of 10 instructors in the nation to receive a grant from the National Science Foundation to do graduate work in the field of taxonomy.

A.B. CLAYBURN Geography Clayburn was the author of Our Nebraska, a geography text for elementary school students, and wrote material for encyclopedias. He also served as the director of the Nebraska chapter of the National Council of Geography Teachers and was involved in Boy Scouts locally for more than 40 years.

With the Missouri River back in its banks, Gomon addressed the enrollment issue by placing ads in Nebraska newspapers, touting “the school with a future – for you.” The ads also mentioned the school’s low cost: $1.50 per credit hour.

Gomon tackled Peru’s challenges head-on and later was called before a legislative budget hearing to defend the school. In response to Governor Val Peterson’s question of whether the state could afford to keep the school, Gomon said, “The college is serving a definite purpose.

We now have a potential at Peru of a greater enroll-

President Neal Gomon tackled Peru State’s academic programs with the same passion he displayed in upgrading campus facilities.

Block teaching for elementary student teachers was one of the innovations during his tenure.

ment than ever before.”

He also pointed out that Peru’s facilities were hurt by lack of funding, because of the Board of Education’s split of budget money based on the enrollments at Kearney, Wayne, Chadron and Peru, which was the smallest of the four.

Gomon maintained

A LEADER IN EDUCATION

Six descendants of Thomas J. Majors attended Peru in the early 1950s.

Indeed, Peru was the first college in Nebraska to give full-time student teaching experience during a nine-week period. Block teaching was extended into the secondary field in the early 1960s.

his optimism throughout his early trials, telling students: “Those of us in college during the Roaring ’20s and the Depressing ’30s get a great deal of enjoyment from looking back on those days as the best years of our lives. Those of you who are now in school during the Fidgety ’50s will know that these years are the best years as time rolls by.”

M E M O R I E S O F P E R U : C A R LO S H A R R I S O N , C L A S S O F 19 5 1 Harrison arrived on campus in 1949, majoring in education and recalling many hours in the Music Department with Edith Greer and Darryl Manring. “They were great mentors,” Harrison said.

“They were the type of professors who students were comfortable approaching with a problem and would do their best to give solid advice.”

Harrison’s favorite memory from Peru was a band trip to Chadron for a football game. The Chadron students painted the bus red, and the next morning the Peru students had to buy gasoline to scrub the paint off.

After graduation, he earned a master’s in education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

After serving in the U.S. Army, he returned to his hometown of Shenandoah, Iowa, to become district scout executive with the Boy Scouts of America. He later took a position with Air Products and Chemicals Inc. and moved to California, where he spent the next 39 years in the airline industry.

Harrison maintained close ties with Peru State through the Northern California Alumni Club, twice serving as president of the group. He retired in 2000 from United Airlines and returned to Shenandoah to be near family and friends.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

The football program was determined to make it the best of times. Coach Al Wheeler’s team provided a lift to campus spirits by winning 26 straight games from 1951 to 1954, including consecutive undefeated seasons in 1952 and 1953.

New concrete bleachers were installed on the west side of the Oak Bowl to accommodate bigger crowds in 1952, along with a concession stand and press box.

The Rockne Foundation named Wheeler its 1952 Little

Al Wheeler

All-America coach of the year for winning 10 games, second only to national champion Georgia Tech’s 11 among all college teams.

DARRELL MUDRA Class of 1951 Mudra starred as a fullback for Coach Al Wheeler’s football powerhouse, leading the Bobcats in scoring in 1950.

He later compiled a 200-81-4 record as a college football coach with national championships at North Dakota State and Eastern Illinois, where his offensive coordinator was future Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan. He won 13 conference titles and coached the University of Arizona to an 8-3 record in 1968 and an appearance in the Sun Bowl. His coaching career earned him the name, “Dr. Victory,” and membership in the College Football Hall of Fame.

In fact, former Mississippi football coach Harry Mehre suggested that Peru and Georgia Tech play in the Orange Bowl, if the Southeast Conference couldn’t come up with a strong enough opponent to face the Yellow Jackets.

Wheeler’s ability to develop players was evident in the career of guard Earl Webb of Nebraska City, who weighed 130 pounds while playing for his high school’s B team.

AT H L E T I C H A L L O F FA M E : F O OT B A L L , 1 9 5 2 - 53 Coach Al Wheeler coached the Bobcats to a 10-0 record in 1952 as part of a 26-game winning streak stretching from late in the 1951 season until midway through 1954. Peru capped off the season with a post-season, come-from-behind win over Augustana (S.D.) just three days after the regular season had ended. Wheeler was named national small-college coach of the year, and offensive lineman Bob Lade was chosen first–team Little American. The 1953 team used a rock-solid defense to overcome key injuries while shutting out five opponents during an 8-0 season. The Bobcats finally had their streak ended in a 27-20 loss to Kearney State the next season. Both the 1952 and 1953 teams are in the Peru State College Athletic Hall of Fame.

Al Wheeler’s 1950s teams set a standard of sustained excellence. He was a nationally prominent figure in athletics, serving as president of the NAIA in 1953-54.

His future in football seemed even bleaker when he spent his first two years at Peru as a cheerleader. But after adding 33 pounds during a summer while working as a deck hand on a towboat, he decided to report for football at the beginning of his junior year.

Webb at first spent his time with the “hamburger squad,” the players the varsity practiced against. Within a few weeks, he saw his first action and soon was on the travel team. During a tough game at Wayne, three Peru guards limped off the field with injuries, and Webb entered.

His play helped the Bobcats to a Nebraska College Conference championship.

It was a glorious era for Bobcat football and for Wheeler, who was named to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in 1955 while still actively coaching.

He was named to the Helms Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame in 1957, the first year that NAIA schools had been eligible.

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The Quad was busy in 1953 with students scrambling between classes.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE FLOYD FITHIAN Class of 1951 Fithian, the first of his family to graduate from college, later got his master’s and Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska. He taught at Nebraska Wesleyan and later went to Indiana to take a position at Purdue University.

He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974 and served until 1983.

He later was chief of staff for Senator Paul Simon of Illinois and campaign manager for Simon’s presidential campaign in 1988.

At the same time, Peru also could note with pride that two sons of former professor Herbert Brownell were serving in the Eisenhower administration: Herbert Jr. as attorney general and Samuel as U.S. commissioner of education.

Meanwhile, renowned astronomer Edison Pettit – a Peru native and Peru Normal grad – was about to retire from the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories in Pasadena, California, and Richard Lowe, who had commanded Delzell Hall in the V-12 program, was named governor of Guam.

Gomon had been right about good times being possible during the Fidgety ’50s. He also had been correct about enrollment bouncing back. Helped by returning Korean War vets, enrollments at all Nebraska colleges were rising, and he predicted that “by the early 1960s all colleges may be bursting at the seams.”

Peru was up to 417 students by the spring of 1955, an increase of more than 40 percent since Gomon had taken office.

If that was a cause for celebration, it would be done with soft drinks, because Peru remained the only college town in Nebraska that banned alcohol sales. The City Council approved an application from the Veterans of Foreign Wars post to sell beer in its clubhouse, but a petition drive by residents got the decision reversed.

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IT WAS TIME TO get back in the business of building. Gomon returned to the Legislature to make a strong pitch for both faculty and student housing, and his efforts produced plans for eight apartment units for faculty and 14 for married students. The student units, east of the Oak Bowl, replaced the Vetville barracks that had been moved from the air base at Bruning to north of the football field in 1945.

The new faculty units were built in two four-apartment complexes – north of the main campus. The $250,000 development, completed in August 1956, was the first of Gomon’s projects that were built at no cost to the state through revenue bonds.

The school was making itself more attractive to prospective students in other ways.

In 1956, the State Board of Education authorized a graduate program in education.

The move was to counter graduates leaving the state to obtain master’s degrees, then returning to Nebraska to teach.

Gomon encouraged students to obtain a master’s, saying, “A study of salary schedules of most school systems reveals that salary-wise, a person with less than a master’s degree is hampered in financial progress.”

Students also were encouraged to look for opportunities abroad, highlighted by Pedagogian stories about opportunities to teach English in Mexico, France and Germany.

Meanwhile, administrators could tell parents of high school students of the alcohol-free area around campus. They also could promise to keep a close eye on the goings-on at the dorms, particularly at the women’s residence hall, where students had to sign out before leaving campus for dates.

All of the improvements were having an effect. In the fall of 1956, Peru enrollment surpassed 500, a postwar record, with 311 men and 192 women.

CABINET CONNECTION Samuel and Herbert Brownell Jr. , the sons of Peru State Normal professor Herbert Brownell, both served in the Eisenhower administration.

During his time as attorney general, Herbert Jr. (above) was involved in several civil rights cases, including Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.

He was considered a strong contender for U.S. Supreme Court vacancies in 1957, 1958 and 1969.

Samuel (below) was U.S. commissioner of education and later became superintendent of Detroit schools.

President Neal Gomon improved upon both facilities and academic programs.

PART III | 123

MAKING A DIFFERENCE MARLAN DOWNEY Class of 1954 After receiving his bachelor’s degree in chemistry, Downey earned a master’s degree in geology from the University of Nebraska and embarked on a 30-year career with Shell Oil. He served as Shell’s director of exploration in Alaska and later headed Shell’s international exploration effort.

He also served as president of its worldwide exploration subsidiary, Pecten International.

He credited Peru with providing him with advanced speaking and writing skills that allowed him to compete with the top scholars of larger universities.

“I’ve found that one of the greatest advantages in success is how other people judge you,” he said.

“They rarely judge you by how tall you are, how handsome you are, but (by) how well you can communicate your own ideas and intelligence to others.”

A line formed to check out of the dormitory in the evening.

Gomon’s impact on Peru continued to grow. He teamed with faculty and alumni to organize the Peru Achievement Foundation, which was instrumental in raising money for funding gaps that the state couldn’t fill. The foundation began gathering and administering grants, gifts and bequests. It started off by providing eight $120 one-year scholarships, awarded on the basis of academic record, character, interest in teaching and financial need.

Gomon enjoyed a national reputation in the field of education. He was asked to appear on a Mutual Broadcasting System radio program to defend college forensics teams for debating U.S. recognition of Communist China.

Peru State Teachers College, celebrating its 90th anniversary in 1957, still was largely for Nebraskans, with 385 of 460 students from inside the state. About 80 percent came from within a 75-mile radius of the campus, and nearly 75 percent of those enrolled said they planned to teach.

The school was beginning to expand its reach for students. A welcoming party went to Auburn to greet a student, Marie Antalek, who was coming to Peru from Newark, New Jersey.

She said she had been drawn by her interest in participating in sports at Peru. “Let’s be friendly to this new student who is a long way from home,” the Pedagogian urged.

The faculty numbered 32, with another 12 at the T.J. Majors Training School, and the library held 56,000 volumes.

Gomon touted the T.J. Majors school on the anniversary, pointing out that Peru was the only state college with a training facility that also served as the only elementary and high school for the nearby area. Student teachers, with guidance from faculty members, conducted classes.

124 | PART III

Young men and women kept to their own tables.

“Since this is the only public school in the immediate Peru area, student teachers here receive broad training in teaching children of all levels,” he noted. “The laboratory school is the heart of our program.”

The growing enrollment allowed the school to pass Chadron in state funding, but Gomon clashed with Kearney’s administration over building funds from the State Board of Education.

Hoping to reduce the conflict, the board brought in a team of educators to evaluate the four state college campuses and help set priorities. The visitors’ first observation was that Peru’s campus was too hilly, with one commenting, “I guess we’re not in top shape.” In spite of the uphill climb, the team’s ensuing report backed Peru’s desire for an industrial arts building.

The matter didn’t end there, however.

Kearney objected and took the fight to the Legislature and the Governor’s Office. Peru eventually received funding for the building, but only after a months-long battle that would typify the difficulties Peru, Wayne and Chadron would have in competing for funds with the larger Kearney school, whose enrollment in 1957 was about the same as Peru and Wayne combined.

Gomon was pleased to obtain the funding, but noted, “Colleges are made by their staffers, not buildings. I am proud of the faculty at Peru. And Peru’s success may be measured by the success of her graduates. Peru can be justly proud of the success of her graduates in education, business, the professions and industry.”

PART III | 125

BUILDING A FOUNDATION The Peru Achievement Foundation was incorporated in 1955 and focused on extending the school’s reach.

Its first scholarships had no residence requirements.

The foundation expanded its role in 1961 to pay for an advertisement in the New York Times inviting students to consider Peru for college.

IMPACT BEYOND THE HILLTOP

“Progress on a campus can be found in many ways, but the real future and progress of the school lies in the hands of the students who are the school.”

—1957 Peruvian

BY 1957, PERU HAD GRADUATED about 12,000 students, including those who had obtained two-year normal degrees. The school had awarded about 5,500 four-year degrees since 1923, the first year it was authorized to confer them.

EXPANDING FOOTPRINT

In 1957,

80%

of the students were from within 75 miles of campus.

12%

of the students were from Iowa.

4%

of the students were from Missouri and Kansas.

By 1967,

28%

of students were from out of state.

THE YEARS LEADING UP to the school’s centennial celebration were marked by changing places and changing faces.

Athletic Director Al Wheeler oversaw the construction of a baseball diamond and added baseball to the Bobcat sports lineup in 1957 – after an absence of 38 years. Wheeler coached the team himself and wasn’t afraid of a challenge in assembling his new squad. That first season he took his team to Omaha to play Creighton, which featured future baseball Hall of Famer Bob Gibson.

Industrial arts Professor A.V. Larson retired in 1958 after 32 years at the school, having joined the faculty in 1926 as the only industrial arts instructor.

“No person on our staff is more honored and respected than is Mr. Larson,” President Gomon said in tribute. “Although a new head of the division will be named soon, no one will ‘replace’ Mr. Larson in the college faculty.”

Plans were in the works for a new industrial arts building to be named after Larson, whose ideas – some of them devised years earlier – were incorporated into the design.

“This is indeed a thrill,” he said. “I don’t see how I am entitled to all of it.”

Larson also had dedicated 25 years to the publication board for the Peruvian yearbook.

The Journalism Club created the A.V. Larson Award in his honor, presenting it to the student making the greatest contribution to the yearbook.

Seven other faculty members – Stacy Vance, George DeVore, A.B. Clayburn, Victor Jindra, R.T. Benford, L.B. Mathews and Norma Diddel – were honored for service totaling 225 years, an average of 32 years each.

“In a very real sense, the seven people mentioned have helped make Peru State what it is today,” the Pedagogian said.

With the industrial arts building started, funding also was approved for a student center, a new men’s dorm and additions to Eliza Morgan Hall. By the time students returned to campus in the fall of 1959, construction was beginning.

A.V. Larson Building Built in 1960 The industrial arts building boasted 24,000 square feet, with 14,500 square feet in shops for woodworking, metals and mechanics. Some of the building’s features came from designs by longtime industrial arts faculty member A.V. Larson.

The building now is used for art classes, a computer lab and the Peru State College Foundation.

A.D. Majors Hall Built in 1960 The dormitory’s east wing opened with room for 90 students, and the west wing Students enjoyed the new lounge area in A.D. Majors Hall.

opened in 1965 with an additional 120

“Neal S. Gomon never stopped working to get the buildings the school needed badly,” the Pedagogian said. “His dreams of a greater Peru are becoming a reality, and loyal Peruvians everywhere are proud of their president.”

As Peru State Teachers College entered the ’60s, Gomon could look at the progress he had made with the doubling of enrollment, improvements to the Oak Bowl and a $1.5 million building program.

rooms. The added space allowed the school to tear down Mount Vernon Hall to make room for the Student Center and an addition to Eliza

Times were changing quickly, and campus life reflected both the old and the new: Students still enjoyed a May Pole ceremony while also initiating a modern dance program.

Meanwhile, a new campus phone system was installed, allowing calls between buildings on campus. And perhaps more importantly, between dorms. The A.V. Larson Industrial Arts Building opened in 1960, along with A.D. Majors Hall, named for Thomas J. Majors’ nephew, who was in his 15th year on the State Board of Education.

Morgan Hall. A.D. Majors Hall closed in the 1970s as enrollment dropped and later was used as a health center, offices and locker rooms

Peru’s naming of campus buildings after longtime educators was fitting. The school’s students could count on veteran faculty members as part of their experience on the Campus of a Thousand Oaks.

Perhaps this was best exemplified by L.B. and Ruth Mathews, a couple who taught a combined 76 years at the school before retiring in 1960, he in physics and she in health

for the Al Wheeler Activity Center to the west. In the 1980s, it also served as a conference center for local businesses.

education. Both were Phi Beta Kappa graduates of the University of Nebraska. “Their impact

The building was

on the lives of hundreds of young men and women is reflected daily in classrooms across the

demolished in 2008.

state and nation,” Gomon said.

The fall of 1960 saw the retirement of another campus legend: Al Wheeler as football coach after 23 seasons. He stayed on as athletic director, while assistant Jack McIntire, a former Bobcat sports star, succeeded him as coach. “Although Al has compiled a tremendous record as a winning coach,” Gomon said, “his greatest contribution has been in the development of hundreds of young men as outstanding teachers and citizens.”

PART III | 129

PERU STATE ALUMS from the 1950s might think they had it together during their time on campus. Dean of Students Harold Borass saw it differently, providing an assessment of the problems he saw among students during the period.

CAMPUS LIFE

1950s

For men, he pointed to “bad eating habits and the need for a balanced diet.” He noted that students who spent seven or more hours at study per week were best adjusted. His view might have been in reaction to the time students spent watching televisions that had been installed in dorm lounges. Borass also said that students “do not learn to handle money properly at home, and they go home too often.”

He also had some advice for parents: “Family and home problems are resolved when parents take a moderate and intelligent interest in their son or daughter. Too oversolicitous and overprotective parents refuse to let their (children) grow up.”

The Pedagogian also was willing to pass judgment on some of the trends in the 1950s. For girls, the arrival of “bobby-soxers” prompted an editorial “to inquire just why the majority of girls preferred white socks to argyles and the various plaincolored ones.”

The boys on campus, meanwhile, were taken to task for pulling the fire alarms as a prank at Mount Vernon Hall.

A model dorm room (left) was abnormally tidy.

Typing students (below) used manual typewriters.

The dorm mailboxes were a popular attraction.

Signs of the time: Students doubled up with adding machines in business classes (above left) and performed in grass skirts (above).

A stuffed “Bob� the bobcat (left) found a home in the trophy room.

Boom Times PRESIDENT NEAL GOMON HAD been right with his earlier prediction that colleges would be “bursting at the seams” by the early 1960s. Peru’s enrollment hit 722 in the fall of 1961, a 17 percent increase over the previous year, with 408 men and 314 women.

The G.I. Bill had sent a generation of young men to colleges after World War II. The war also opened doors to women in the workplace, and the best way for them to build a career was through education. This powerful combination boosting enrollments of both men and women by the ’60s had created a belief within families, and the country at large, that college was an expectation, not just a dream.

With no end to rising enrollments in sight, State Board of Education President Carl Spelts at one point even hinted that Nebraska’s state teachers colleges might have to limit student numbers.

Instead, tuition was raised another $10 a semester, to $100 for residents and $150 for non-residents, in the hopes of raising more money to keep up with the exploding enrollments.

The ’60s would be marked by a construction boom to stay ahead of the baby boom. Gomon held dedication Math students turned to their slide rules for answers.

ceremonies in April 1961 for the new A.V. Larson Industrial Arts Building, the Student Center, the A.D. Majors

residence hall and two additions to the Eliza Morgan residence hall. The additions to dormitories allowed the school to provide housing for 419 students.

The Student Center gave the campus a more modern look and included space for a TV lounge, a bookstore, a snack bar, a game room and offices for student publications.

Helping to decorate the building was a painting titled “Peace” by 1957 graduate Leland Sherwood, a gift from the class of 1961. At the same time, Peru said farewell to Mount Vernon Hall, which had been torn down to make way for the Student Center.

Gomon recognized that the modern building with its new features might require that “some of the rules will need to be changed.” He apparently sensed trouble ahead. The Pedagogian a few months later reported, “The furnishings in the lounge are being damaged by carelessness or by deliberate destruction. We have waited over 94 years for a Student Center, so let’s take care of the fine building.”

132 | PART III

Peruvians enjoyed the view from the new Student Center.

The new building helped build Bobcat pride and provided evidence to some that the school was keeping up with the times. The Peru Achievement Foundation took in a record $9,888 in donations in 1962 and reported a balance of more than $21,000.

While Peru’s enrollment had risen sharply, its piece of the financial pie remained the smallest of the four state colleges. More than a third of the State Board of Education’s budget allocation went to Kearney alone, while Peru had the smallest share at 12.7 percent.

The board looked for ways to stretch its dollars further with the continuing tide of students.

Student Center Built in 1961 The building, constructed on the site where Mount Vernon Hall had stood, featured east and south walls of glass in a modern architectural design that differed from other buildings on campus. It housed a cafeteria, snack bar, book store, offices for student publications, lounges and game rooms.

The master’s program was phased out following the 1962 summer graduation because of lack of funds to provide the library holdings and graduate faculty deemed necessary by the North Central Association of Colleges and Universities. Peru was fortunate in having already completed work on an addition to the library.

Pinched funding also led a State Board of Education official to raise the possibility of discontinuing the high school program at the T.J. Majors Training School. None of the other state colleges was operating a junior or senior high school at the time.

The training school survived that episode, along with the board’s move in 1963 to eliminate elementary schools connected with Kearney, Wayne and Chadron. The board said it acted to save money for other programs and because student teaching assignments were available with nearby school districts.

Arlene Borcher (left) served at the Martha Washington Tea in 1966. The tea began in 1941 after a group of students visited Mount Vernon in Virginia. They copied Martha Washington’s recipe for cake and fashioned an event to present it on campus.

Peru battled some of the cutbacks by promoting a study that found only 22 percent of its qualified elementary school graduates left the state to teach, compared with the statewide average of 42 percent of graduates leaving.

The numbers helped build the case that none of the other state colleges could match Peru in the way it was impacting its region of southeast Nebraska.

That impact to the region was evident in other ways.

Coach Jack McIntire’s 1961-62 men’s basketball team filled the stands in the gymnasium as it rolled to a 23-5 record and a trip to the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City.

Along the way, the Bobcats won the Nebraska College Conference title. How popular was McIntire? He also served as Peru’s mayor while coaching on the hilltop.

AT H L E T I C H A L L O F FA M E : M E N ’S B A S K E T B A L L , 1 9 6 1 - 6 2 Coach Jack McIntire’s Bobcats compiled a 23-5 record while winning the Nebraska College Conference title. They held off a second-half comeback by Wayne State College to win the NAIA District 11 title and qualify for the national tournament in Kansas City. Peru defeated Mayville College of North Dakota 90-74 in the first round before falling 67-65 to Carson-Newman College of Tennessee.

The Student Center was a popular place to convene from the moment it opened.

The 1962 fall semester ended with a performance of Handel’s “Messiah” at the Nebraska City High School Auditorium and at Peru’s auditorium. Peru’s 35-piece orchestra performed, while the 120-member chorus included Peru students, high school students and residents from the area.

A week earlier, 600 high school students had attended a choral clinic on campus.

While students from southeast Nebraska still dominated enrollment, the campus was also drawing young men and women from 20 states, along with one student from Hong Kong.

Nearby Iowa had the largest contingent with 49 students, but New York was second with 21 and New Jersey third with 19.

As Peru’s school grew closer to the end of its first century, its name was changed one last time, to Peru State College in 1963.

It was a time for other milestones. For the Arthur Meyer family of Omaha, it was time to celebrate the last of its four children graduating from Peru. All four went into teaching.

The Meyers sent a thank you note to President Gomon and to “all of the teachers at the college.”

And at the end of the 1963-64 school year, Al Wheeler retired as athletic director, ending a 26-year turn at the school. His wife, Frances, also retired as assistant athletic director, Women’s Athletic Association director, May Fete sponsor and supervisor of physical education at the T.J. Majors Training School.

Al Wheeler, a Hall of Fame coach, had built a legend in Peru that would endure.

Frances Wheeler’s departure also would be felt dearly. Indicative of her impact on campus, the Pedagogian ran stories of the couple’s retirements side by side with equal-sized headlines.

PART III | 135

ONE LAST NAME CHANGE The Nebraska Legislature in 1963 approved dropping the word “teachers” from the state colleges’ official names.

The Pedagogian voiced its approval of the school being called Peru State College.

“It is hoped that this delayed action will raise the prestige of the college and attract more students,” the campus newspaper said.

MEMORIES

THE BABY BOOM GENERATION was filling schools across the nation, and enrollment also was getting a boost from young men of draft-eligible age as the Vietnam War ramped up.

With Peru’s enrollment continuing to swell, work began on an addition to A.D. Majors

MARTY WEBER

residence hall. Nebraska’s three other state colleges, meanwhile, were just beginning studies

Weber recalled being a freshman in an introduction to speech class on November 22, 1963:

of whether to add dormitory space.

“The professor had been instructing us on the importance of ‘grabbing’ your audience’s attention at the very beginning of your speech.

He was interrupted by a knock on the door and went out into the hallway to speak to someone.

“After several minutes he returned, went back to the podium and said, ‘At approximately 1 p.m. President Kennedy was shot.’

“We all stared at him while thinking that this particular example of ‘grabbing your audience’ was in pretty bad taste. He looked at us and realized what was happening and said, ‘No, no. I’m not making a speech.

This has really happened.’ ”

President Gomon wasn’t finished with his construction push. In the fall of 1964, with Peru’s centennial approaching, he presented to the State Board of Education a $3.8 million, six-year building program.

Within six months Freeman B. Decker of the State Board of Education was warning that the state colleges faced “a very serious housing shortage.”

“We have been forced to place three students in rooms designed for two,” Decker said.

“That’s not conducive to good dormitory living.”

Gomon had been out front on the challenge, and Peru was estimated to be just 21 beds short of what was needed. By comparison, Wayne had 1,507 students occupying rooms designed for just 1,160.

In addition to the work on A.D. Majors Hall, construction was moving ahead on a fine arts center and an extension to the Student Center.

From a post-World War II low enrollment of 269 in 1952, Peru surpassed the 1,000 mark for the first time in its history in the fall of 1965, when 1,041 students registered for classes.

Martha Mullen, the 1,000th student to enroll, with Gomon.

Martha Mullen was officially the 1,000th to enroll and was invited to the State Board of Education recognition dinner in October.

“Future growth of the college will depend on the ability to house students,” Gomon said.

“Our dormitories are above capacity, and classroom space is at a premium.”

Peru State College would be lacking a familiar name as it faced another round of challenges in the political arena. A.D. Majors resigned from the State Board of Education, the fourth and final member of the Majors family to serve on the board. In departing, he saw a bright future ahead for Peru State College.

“The desire of the younger people to increase and take advantage of their educational opportunities has grown,” Majors said.

136 | PART III

THE END OF THE LINE

The class of 1965 wound its way past the old Music Hall, which gave way to the Jindra Fine Arts Building.

But a fight was brewing again in the Legislature over the campus training school named after his uncle. A resolution to close the school was adopted, but it was followed by a second resolution exempting the school from the provisions of the first resolution. The second resolution passed, and the school got a reprieve.

MEMORIES OF PERU: MICHAEL JANIS, CLASS OF 1964 Michael Janis spent Thanksgiving of 1964 at the home of Virginia Adkins, a fellow Peru student from Nebraska City.

Janis, originally from the Chicago area, said he received a phone call from Peru State’s director of placement, Harold Johnson. Janis was surprised that Johnson knew where to find him over the holiday break but pleased that it was about a job opening with the Millard school district.

The senior music major got in his application and soon was scheduled for an interview in Millard.

Only one problem: He didn’t have a way to get there.

“Here, take my car!” Johnson told him.

Janis said he got the job, thanks to the extra effort by Peru State’s placement director. And he got the girl, later marrying Virginia, class of 1964. He retired after 35 years teaching and directing vocal music for the Millard district.

He closed the curtain on his career in the spring of 2000 by directing a production of “Hello Dolly” at Millard West High School. As the lights came up, a big screen to the left of the stage flashed “Thanks, Mr. J.” The thought was completed on the other side of the stage: “We’ll miss you.”

Janis said he couldn’t have had a better way to go out. “It’s like the coach winning the last game of his career, “ he said.

Arthur D. Majors’ departure from the State Board of Education in 1966 ended a century of public service to Peru by the Majors family. His uncle, Thomas J. Majors, had been instrumental in founding the school. His grandfather, Sterling P. Majors, had been the board’s first chairman. His father, Wilson Majors, had served on the board in the 1890s.

Thomas J. Majors then served on the board from 1902 to 1933.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE WENDELL G. MOHLING

Peru’s athletic program again brought pride to the school. Men’s cross country, in just its third year of competition, won its NAIA 1965 regional to advance to the national meet in Omaha. The Bobcats took third place, their highest national finish in any sport to that point.

The school continued to sponsor high school sports as well.

Thirty-two teams with 400 girls competed in the annual High School Girls Volleyball Tourna-

Class of 1964

ment. “The screaming pep clubs are made up of boys,” a newspaper reported. “Victory is just as

Mohling went on to earn a master’s at the University of Oklahoma and a Ph.D. at the University of Kansas. He taught in Scribner and Shawnee Mission, Kansas, and was known as an early advocate of aerospace education.

sweet and defeat just as tearfully bitter as for the winners and losers in the state basketball meets.”

One boy took note of the physical play by the volleyballers. “They can ram that ball right down your throat,” he said. “I’d hate to get in front of some of them.”

Gomon was a big fan of the tournament, taking in matches with his dog, Shustie.

High school girls athletics, long a priority at Peru State, was drawing more interest statewide. The Nebraska School Activities Association pointed out that its rules did not prohibit girls volleyball and that Peru’s annual tournament was considered the state championship. Girls high school basketball, on the other hand, had been sanctioned in the early part of the 20th century but ended and remained prohibited by NSAA rules.

He was chosen as Kansas’ designee for the NASA Teacher in Space program and later was named a NASA space ambassador. He was president of the National Science Teachers Association for 1992-93. The group annually presents the Dr. Wendell G. Mohling Outstanding Aerospace Educator Award.

Mohling helped develop guidelines for education as a member of the National Committee on Science Education Standards and Assessment. He received several prestigious awards during his career, including the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching in 1983 and the first Christa McAuliffe Fellowship in Kansas in 1987-88.

The Library’s arches were echoed in the design for the Jindra Fine Arts Building.

138 | PART III

AT H L E T I C H A L L O F FA M E

Cross Country 1965 Peru’s runners, in just their third year of competition, completed the regular season undefeated in six dual meets and won five of six triangulars. Coach Jim Pilkington’s Bobcats were runners-up in the Nebraska College Conference meet and later topped Kearney State to win the regional title. Peru finished third in the national meet held at Omaha’s Elmwood Park, the school’s highest finish in athletics to that point.

Peru began adding women’s sports, including basketball, volleyball and cross country, as it became possible to find intercollegiate competition. John F. Kennedy College in Wahoo had become a national power in women’s basketball, allowing the Bobcats to set their sights high.

Women’s competitive tennis wasn’t available yet, but Kathy Welsh of Omaha lettered on the men’s tennis team from 1966 to 1968. She later was a Nebraska Open women’s champion and competed in regional women’s tournaments.

With the centennial just a year away, the campus was about halfway through its construction projects. “There was always some kind of project,” recalled Paul Fell, class of 1967. “Now I tell people, ‘If you go on a campus and there’s not a building project, then it’s a stagnant college.’ ” Faye Brandt, head librarian, used the opening of the remodeled library in 1966 to point out the school’s outstanding collection of bound periodicals. Some of them predated statehood, including the Congressional Globe and Harper’s.

The Jindra Fine Arts Building, which opened in 1966, was named after music professor Victor Jindra, who had retired in 1961.

Jindra Fine Arts Building Built in 1966 The building, situated where the old Music Hall had stood, provided classroom and offices for art, drama, music and speech. Music students could use its practice rooms, and its 214-seat concert hall was designed for recitals. Space also was devoted to studios, laboratories and an art exhibition hall.

An 1885 silver dollar from the cornerstone at Normal Hall was placed in the cornerstone of the building. Peru President Neal Gomon had his offices moved to the building while the Administration Building was being renovated.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

REUBEN SNAKE JR. Snake, who attended Peru from 1968 to 1969, said his education allowed him to find his gift for writing. He used it to counter misconceptions about Native Americans.

Snake was involved in the first Indian occupation of the Mount Rushmore Memorial and participated in other protests as well. In 1972, Snake was elected vice chairman of the American Indian Movement and in the 1980s worked to promote the expansion of reservation-run bingo and gambling as a source of jobs and revenue for Native Americans.

May pole dances continued into the 1960s, although skirts were considerably shorter than in the first May festival in 1911.

Arlene Borcher Fell, class of 1967, said the school wielded considerable authority over student conduct when she was there. “We had to wear skirts or dresses to class,” she said.

“If a gal was caught smoking on campus, she went to the dean’s office.”

But the campus soon would change both in appearance and in attitude.

The dress code for women was relaxed for cafeteria dining. The men apparently went too far, however, and had to be cautioned that “shorts, T-shirts and sweatshirts are not acceptable.”

The Peruvian noted, “The men students intermittently gave up shaving and haircuts in recognition of Fridays, April thirds or midterm grades.”

The war in Vietnam caught the attention of students. One student questioned the lack of information as the war was escalating. “We who are at home are part of the team, but how can we play without knowing the game?”

A war correspondent visited the campus to report on what he had seen in the war, and students debated the ethics of going to Canada to avoid the military draft.

One said, “Only a coward would desert his country and go to Canada.” Another responded, “It’s not much more cowardly than the guys who hide out in colleges just in order to avoid the draft.”

An article in the Pedagogian questioned whether marijuana should be legalized, and students debated the nation’s changing morality. “Generally speaking, what is morally wrong?” one student asked. “The answer must lie with the individual. Today’s young people realize this and are forming their own concepts of right and wrong.”

Another student said, “To think that the majority of you will be teachers in three or four years and will actually be forming young minds for future generations is appalling. While you should be maturing adults, with a set of values and eventual goals, you are in all actuality little more than children, loud-mouthed, disrespectful and oblivious to the world around you.”

While students felt free to voice their opinions, Paul Fell said the campus was relatively tranquil for the time. “The drug scene hadn’t really arrived,” he said. “There really wasn’t anything going on in terms of protest for the Vietnam War.”

140 | PART III

PERU STATE’S CENTENNIAL YEAR got off to a poor start when Governor Norbert Tiemann in early 1967 presented a tight budget for state colleges that included a tuition hike.

“I don’t see how we can provide quality programs under the limitations the governor has recommended,” President Gomon said of the budget picture. He also criticized the tuition increase. “Most of our students are from middle- and low-income families,” he said. “Rich students usually don’t go to a state college.”

The State Board of Education settled on $330 yearly tuition for residents and raised it to $610 for out-of-state students from $400, the third hike in six years. “I’m certain this will eliminate some students,” Gomon said. “They won’t be able to afford the increase.”

President Neal Gomon’s offices were in the Jindra Fine Arts Building when it opened because of renovation work in the Adminstration Building.

M E M O R I E S O F P E R U : PAU L F E L L A N D A R L E N E B O R C H E R F E L L , C L A S S O F 1 9 67 The Fells couldn’t have come from more different backgrounds. Arlene grew up in nearby Steinauer, Nebraska, and had an aunt who had attended Peru State.

“It was my only choice really,” she said. “I felt comfortable going there.” A quiet student in high school, she found confidence at Peru, thanks to help from the faculty. “I never had that feeling that ‘I can’t do this,’ because they thought I could,” she said. “I was president of the home economics club for two years, and I’d have to pinch myself. I would have never been something like this in high school, a leader like this.”

Paul grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts, and confessed he wasn’t a good student in high school. A friend from his neighborhood was playing football at Peru and recommended the school. Paul headed west to play, but battled homesickness. He stuck it out after encouragement from his coach, along with his father telling him the only other option was the Navy. “One of the greatest things to ever happen to me was I ended up at Peru,” Paul said.

The Fells, later co-presidents of Peru State’s National Alumni Association board, were proud to graduate as the college celebrated its 100th year. “When we came in at freshman orientation, they talked to us about how we were the centennial class,” Arlene said. “It really didn’t impress us at the time, but later it really has. ...

And here we are 50 years later, and again special things are expected of us.”

Then in the spring of 1967, state senators passed legislation that would result in the closing

“When we were students, we didn’t have a lot to do.

People weren’t running around providing a lot of activities for us.

We entertained ourselves a lot, which meant we developed a lot of friendships just by being together all the time.”

— Paul Fell, class of 1967

of the T.J. Majors Training School, with the students absorbed into nearby schools.

The timing couldn’t have been worse for science instructor Daryl Long, who was a new member of the Peru faculty.

“When I interviewed, I asked, ‘What about your elementary school?” recalled Long, who had a son ready to begin kindergarten. The response: “We have the best elementary school in the country.”

Long took the job, liking what he heard of the campus school. “That was one of the selling points,” he said. But by the fall, T.J. Majors was closed.

The bad news couldn’t put a damper on the centennial year, however.

Ernest Longfellow published his Peru history, The Normal on the Hill, to mark the occasion.

Longfellow also claimed the distinction of being the only member of the 1920 football team who had failed to score against Kearney in a 103-0 rout. Special events included a Charter Day celebration in June and a Centennial Homecoming in October.

For a century, the longevity of faculty service had been one of the hallmarks of Peru.

Students entering the college might be taught by instructors who also had taught their parents.

Alumni could return during homecoming events and renew acquaintance with those who had instructed them. The school’s centennial publication noted, “It is not the brick and mortar, but the training and inspiration that Peru State’s faculty has given its thousands of students that stand out as the immeasurable good. The tangible can be recorded, but intangible accomplishments in the minds of men only guessed.”

BUILDINGS HONOR INSPIRING FACULTY MEMBERS AND EDUCATION LEADERS Buildings constructed in the years leading up to the centennial were named for important figures in school history.

NEAL HALL

PATE HALL

NICHOLAS HALL

DAVIDSON HALL

PALMER HALL

For Dr. J.F. Neal, who donated land for the Mount Vernon Seminary.

For Walter R. Pate, president from 1923 to 1946.

For William L. Nicholas, president from 1946 to 1950.

For Phyllis Davidson, women’s physical education instructor from 1929 to 1956.

For Nona Palmer, member of the business department from 1915 to 1950.

142 | PART III

It was fitting that so many of the school’s buildings bore the names of educators, rather than donors or politicians, as was the case at many schools.

The fall semester of 1967 opened three days late as construction lagged on dormitories, but Gomon was eager to continue the celebration with a look to the school’s next 100 years. “Our thoughts are turned backward by pride in the past and ahead by the welcome challenges of the future,” he wrote.

Daryl Long

Students provided testimonials for the school.

Mike Harmon, who had attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale before transferring to Peru, said: “Here, I know everybody. There, I was Number 88993. I didn’t have a name, didn’t know the teachers, had no personal contact, couldn’t ask questions. There were about 10 thousand students, and I knew only about 25 of them. Here, I know where the teachers live, and they encourage students to visit their homes.”

Dianne Deshler said the low cost attracted her first. “After I got here, I found the social climate good. It’s friendly. There’s a close relationship, too, between instructors and students.”

The enthusiasm was borne out by a 13 percent rise in enrollment that fall, with a record 413 freshmen. Ninety-five percent of the dormitory rooms were filled, even with the additions that had been made.

Long recalled surveying the campus at the time and thinking, “Oh, my goodness, this place is booming!”

CLAYBURN HALL

MATHEWS HALL

For A.B. Clayburn, who taught geography from 1922 to 1963.

For L.B. Mathews, member of science faculty from 1927 to 1961.

BENFORD RECITAL HALL

DIDDEL EXHIBITION COURT

JINDRA FINE ARTS BUILDING

For R.T. Benford, who taught piano and organ from 1926 to 1965.

For Norma L. Diddel, a member of the art faculty from 1929 to 1966.

For Victor H. Jindra, chairman of the fine arts department, who taught from 1923 to 1961.

PART III | 143

PART IV

1968-2010

coming together

“Peru State College was a time in my life that helped define me as a positive and productive individual and, as I live, those times will be everlasting.”

— Alvin Holder, class of 1982

BRINGING MUSIC TO COMPUTERS Max Mathews, the son of Peru State professors L.B. and Ruth Mathews, received electronics training while serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He later became an engineer at Bell Laboratories, where he wrote the first computer program to synthesize sound and play it back.

A Time to Be Heard PERU STATE COLLEGE BEGAN its second hundred years in a strong position with a newly revamped campus and growing enrollment. Signs pointed toward the good times continuing.

President Neal Gomon foresaw “unprecedented development” in southeast Nebraska with the addition of the nuclear power plant that was soon to open in Brownville. Ed Chenette, the school’s director of financial aid, projected that student assistance would total nearly $500,000 a year through work-study programs, Peru Achievement Foundation scholarships, grants and student loans.

The second semester of the 1967-68 school year offered students their first chance to pre-register for classes on the increasingly crowded campus. The new system didn’t prevent a long line from forming outside the library as students waited to pick up their class cards.

Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke listened to Mathews’ music in the early 1960s and later incorporated it into his novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, on which the film was based.

But shortcomings were ironed out by the fall of 1968, and a visiting state education official

Mathews (below) also developed computer-music software and electronic instruments and devices.

He is often referred to as “the father of computer music.”

the maintenance of high academic standards and in the opportunity for self-expression and

declared it the best-run registration he’d ever seen at a college campus.

The Pedagogian heralded the start of the school’s second century, proclaiming that “Peru State’s proud past, built upon one hundred years of ideas, initiative and innovation, presents the students of today with a heritage which is varied and ever-changing to meet the challenge of the future.”

The student editors expressed their view of the school’s mission: “This college believes in personal growth. Because of the size of the student body, the opportunity to meet and become well acquainted with your professors is an inherent benefit. The professors, in turn, are here to give personal help and guidance, if you will only give them the chance to do so.”

The faculty, for its part, remained committed to high standards, even in the constantly changing times. Robert Moore, chairman of the Language Arts Department, saw a danger in de-emphasizing the basics of grammar in teaching English. “We feel that a student who can’t write a proper paragraph needs help,” he said.

Moore feared that standards were dropping as other forms of media, such as films and television, were replacing the written word in education. “In this automated world, we are getting to the point where we think we can replace teachers and books,” he said. “I don’t think we can.”

Students were aware of the turbulent times around them. In April 1968, the campus felt the impact of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. “The slaying of this civil rights leader should also have meaning to the students at Peru because he worked for the betterment of society,” student Barb Lafayette said.

Another, Steve Good, added, “He died for the greatest cause any man can hope for – in the interest of his brothers. The whole land will overcome with a little help from each other.

There is no other alternative.”

146 | PART IV

Notebooks, Bic pens and typewriters were the order of the day as Peru began its second hundred years.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES CONTINUED to shift as the Sixties came to an end.

A student government poll of 489 students found 440 were not satisfied with the school’s rules and regulations. One of the issues was dorm visitation. “The more they try to hold back on it, the worse student-administration relations are going to get,” Jerry Neeman of Syracuse said.

Said student Ralph Reed: “Such practices as sign-in sheets, restricted days and hall monitors are of grade-school vintage. The leaders of this campus must realize that we must progress to survive. It is a matter of dollars and cents.” The administration listened, and Peru began an open-dorm policy in the 1972-73 school year.

The Pedagogian turned its attention to freshman initiation activities, questioning whether they actually discouraged a feeling of belonging. The paper’s staff recommended that the events

TOM MIKKELSEN Class of 1970 Mikkelsen earned a degree in industrial management.

During a career in digital media, he has served as vice president of production and operations for Starz Entertainment, which owns cable movie channels, and chief technology officer of Network Captioning Services Inc. and Encompass Digital Media Inc.

be designed to promote participation on a good-humored and equal basis while avoiding personal injuries, disgusting practices and prejudice.

The administration scaled back freshman orientation events in 1970 after problems the previous year with students drinking a concoction called “goober juice,” which alum Barb Jones said was made up of “Tabasco sauce, peas and who knows whatever else.”

The Student Governing Association in March 1969 approved a new group, The Organization for the Identity and Heritage of the Afro-American, later called the Afro-American Society.

It began with 40 members and reflected changes in the country and at Peru. When the Civil Rights Act had become law five years earlier, in 1964, no African-American faces were pictured in the senior class photos of the Peruvian.

In the fall of 1969, the Afro-American Society, which included white students, met with President Gomon and the mayor of Peru to express concerns: lack of blacks on the faculty, inadequate black studies classes, discrimination in on- and off-campus housing, lack of facilities for social functions, police harassment, verbal abuse by white students and inequities in grading. The group became an active participant in campus life, with members attending conferences off campus and sponsoring social activities on campus.

The Afro-American Society in 1971 sponsored a movie and traveled to two conferences.

148 | PART IV

Signs of the times in the 1970s: Bell-bottoms, short skirts and trash receptacles to keep the campus beautiful.

Meanwhile, the Pedagogian asked whether the school was “making a stride toward women’s liberation.” It contrasted the school administration’s all-male hierarchy to student leadership.

Women held four of the most important posts on campus: the presidents of the Student Governing Association and the Student Center Board and the editors of the Peruvian and the Ped. The Ped stirred up enough controversy on the campus scene that the Peruvian yearbook felt obliged to compliment the newspaper’s small staff: “Credit must be given to those with the intestinal fortitude to go on working for the Ped.” While students felt free to express their opinions, including criticism, they were by and large content with their decision to attend Peru State College.

“I chose Peru because I wanted a small school,” said Tom Craig of Kansas City, Kansas.

“The people are very friendly, and the campus is beautiful.”

Said Andrea Williams of Omaha: “I also wanted a small school, and Peru has just what I want.”

The rural setting wasn’t without its critics, however.

“What avenues of entertainment are offered by the townspeople to Peru students, outside of three pinball machines and a shuffleboard located in a local club?” asked a Ped editorial.

The school addressed student complaints of lack of entertainment with popular musical acts beginning in the 1969-70 school year.

PART IV | 149

NEIHARDT RETURNS Nebraska poet laureate John G. Neihardt read from his writings on a visit during the 1970-71 school year. He had first visited Peru in 1919 and returned in 1921 and 1965.

PERU STATE COLLEGE STUDENTS enjoyed a string of popular music acts beginning with the 1969-70 school year. A month before the Woodstock music festival, the school signed a contract (lower right on facing page) to bring The Guess Who for an outdoor performance

CAMPUS LIFE

1970s

at the Oak Bowl. Unfortunately, a band member’s illness forced the group to cancel.

Other acts did make it to the hilltop, starting with Friends of Distinction, which had hits in “Grazin’ in the Grass” and “Love or Let Me Be Lonely.” Brewer and Shipley, which had a Billboard Top 10 single in “One Toke Over the Line,” followed.

The Brooklyn Bridge, known for its hit “The Worst That Could Happen,” appeared during Spring Week and received a standing ovation from the enthusiastic crowd. Barb Jones, class of 1973, said among the later concerts in the Auditorium was one by Helen Reddy, “seven months pregnant, singing ‘I Am Woman.’ “ She also recalled the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Mac Davis.

Perhaps the most noteworthy concert of the period was by singer Jim Croce in April 1973. Two months later, his “Bad, Bad LeRoy Brown” reached No. 1 on Billboard, but he died that fall in a plane crash in Louisiana.

Jones recalled freshmen wearing beanies at the start of school and singing “The Color Song” on demand. After two weeks, they were marched to the softball field for a rite of initiation. “Those that had committed ‘freshmen crimes’ suffered humiliations like pies in the face or had things like ketchup poured over their heads,” she said.

Freshmen weathered a number of indignities at the start of school.

The beanies disappeared in 1972.

The Applejack Festival, started in 1970 in Nebraska City, promoted closer relations between Peru State and Nebraska City. Peru played Tarkio College of Tarkio, Missouri, in football at Hayward Park, and students from both schools attended a dance at the Nebraska City Armory.

The busy school calender also included an All-Star Wrestling night with matches featuring some of the top names in the Midwest at the time, including Cowboy Bob Ellis and Beautiful Brutus. There also was a match featuring women.

The entertainment might have helped take the students’ minds off a forgettable year in sports. The 1969 football team went winless, including a 76-6 loss to Emporia State, and the men’s basketball team lost its first five games. On the bright Edward Camealy provided instruction in vocal music and directed the school chorus.

He also taught traditional Peru State songs to incoming freshmen.

152 | PART IV

side, the women’s basketball team finished the season undefeated with a 9-0 record.

PRESIDENT NEAL GOMON, who had brought Peru so far during his tenure, faced a stiff challenge in 1972, with dormitories only about 60 percent full on the heels of the 1960s building boom. The plunge in enrollment had come just five years after the school had

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

celebrated its centennial and just three years after a record enrollment of 1,261.

Gomon attributed much of the decline to a weak farm economy in southeast Nebraska.

“People are going from the farm to the city,” he said. “We’ve got to become involved in projects which will help the economy here develop.

“The decline in agricultural employment caused by the technological revolution has not been picked up in employment in manufacturing,” Gomon said. “So the area is left with a low-paying, slow-growth industry as the principal employer.”

President Gomon was correct that a lower percentage of southeast Nebraska high school graduates were heading to Peru, with more skipping college to seek jobs in urban areas.

From the seven-county region, 9.6 percent of the graduates had gone to Peru in the 1968-69 school year, but by 1971-72, it was just 6.9 percent.

But the problem ran deeper than that.

The number of high school seniors in the seven-county area (Cass, Gage, Johnson, Nemaha, Otoe, Pawnee and Richardson Counties) around Peru had fallen from 1,553 in 1967 to 1,349 in 1972. Six of the counties had seen a decline in overall population from the 1960 Census to 1970, while Cass County had recorded an increase of just 80 people.

Alan Cramer of Wayne, a member of the state college board, also saw a threat in that “the teacher market is saturated. Why should a kid go to a teachers college when he’s advised all over the place that he won’t get a job?”

Cramer added that the winding down of the Vietnam War also was having an impact.

“Men don’t have to go to college to escape the draft,” he said. Troop levels had declined steadily since peaking in 1968, and the draft would end in 1973.

Daryl Long, who had come to the school in 1967, recalled the campus changing with the war’s end. “I do know that after the draft ended and the war wound down that the student population did drop,” he said.

But Long also saw a positive effect on Peru. “I think you did have a change in attitude, because the students wanted to be in college, not because they had to be in college to avoid the draft.”

While Gomon had been ahead of the curve in adding dorm rooms during the boom of the 1960s, by 1972 the school was facing a vacancy rate of almost 40 percent. He noted that demand remained strong for married-student housing, so he shifted gears and made plans to convert single-room dorm units into apartments.

As with past enrollment declines, talk resurfaced of closing the school – this time turning the facility into a regional jail or minimum-security prison.

Long, who had arrived during the 1960s building boom at Peru, recalled the school’s up-and-down cycle that would continue for some time.

PART IV | 153

LARRY GREEN Class of 1971 Green began at a larger school but missed basketball and transferred to Peru. He starred for Coach Jack McIntire’s teams from 1969-71 and remains one of Peru’s top career rebounders.

He credited athletics with providing opportunities that lasted a lifetime.

“You learned about culture and diversity,“ he said. “That really helped me.”

Green retired in 2011 as president of the plastic container operation of Ball Corp. He is president of the Peru State College Foundation board.

BONNIE RUTZ CARLISLE Physical Education She restored intercollegiate women’s athletics to Peru in the early 1970s and coached the school’s sports teams.

INSPIRING

FACULTY

“We played schools like UNL and beat them, as they were just beginning to have women’s sports at the university,” said Barb Jones, class of 1973, who lettered two years in volleyball. “She was very much a pioneer in women’s athletics in the state of Nebraska,” said Kent Propst, class of 1981.

ROYAL ECKERT Speech and Drama Eckert came to Peru after serving as director of the Omaha Junior Theater.

His first production on campus was a one-act play by Peru graduate E.P. Conkle. “He elevated the program and made it a success,” said Becki Propst, class of 1981, who performed in his productions. “He was a wonderful instructor and mentor.” Propst said performances were popular, because “Dr. Eckert really understood what marketing was all about.”

GILBERT WILSON Music Wilson directed bands and orchestras and promoted Peru State through music. He hosted high school musicians on campus and took Peru student bands on tours of the region. In 1976, two of the six vehicles making a 450-mile, two-day trip broke down, but the shows went on without a hitch. Wilson and his wife liked to entertain in their home, which was built in the 1870s by Wilson Majors, brother of Thomas J. Majors.

CLYDE BARRETT English

GEORGE SCHOTTENHAMEL History Schottenhamel, a survivor of the Bataan Death March during World

Barrett was an advocate of expanding the boundaries of edu-

War II, was a longtime history

cation. He encouraged students to enter the National Poetry

professor who also served as

Contest and helped add a journalism degree at Peru in 1971.

chairman of the history and

He began a high school speech contest in an effort to draw

social science department. He

younger students to campus. Barrett directed the Teacher

and his wife, Lillian, also a staff

Learning Center, which aimed to help students develop skills

member, devoted themselves

and help teachers to develop classroom presentations.

to Peru students and organized

He also served as vice president for academic affairs.

trips away from campus.

“They would pour money into something like crazy and build it up, and then they wouldn’t give it any money for maintenance,” Long said. “Finally, somebody said, ‘Are we gonna let it die, or are we going to restore it?’ And then they would throw a lot more money at it. Peru was at that stage when I came here (1967). They had just thrown a bunch more money at it.”

Students rallied around their school.

“A lot of students wouldn’t be going to college if it weren’t for Peru,” said sophomore Gale Rumpeltes of Beatrice. “They couldn’t afford the university (of Nebraska in Lincoln) or private schools like Wesleyan or Doane.”

Unfortunately, there simply weren’t enough students.

A legislative budget formula tied enrollment to faculty numbers, resulting in an announcement that five positions would be cut.

In May 1972, about a month after having to lay off the five staff members, Gomon suffered a heart attack and was replaced by interim

David Edris joined the faculty as a professor of music in 1974 and brought back the Bobcat marching band. The uniforms were obtained from Plattsmouth High School, which had gotten new ones.

president Max G. Smith.

While Gomon eventually returned to work, he decided that he wasn’t up to the task of leading the charge on Peru’s revival. He announced his retirement but promised his “continued interest in and support of Peru State College and the state college system.”

On President Gomon’s watch, enrollment had risen from 258 in 1950 to a high of 1,261 in 1970 but fell back to 1,033 by 1972. He had overseen the transformation of campus through building and remodeling, leaving his fingerprints on the brick and mortar of the Student Center, the Jindra Fine Arts Building, the A.V. Larson Industrial Arts building, A.D. Majors Hall, the Centennial Complex, and faculty and married student housing.

He had also instituted the block student teacher program in 1955 that had spread across the country. Gomon’s accomplishments at Peru State College would be felt for decades to come.

PART IV | 155

Teams squared off in the 1971 Peru Volleyball Tournament.

Matches were held in the old gymnasium, now the school’s library.

An Influential Role in Nebraska Volleyball PERU STATE COLLEGE PLAYED a vital role in the history of girls volleyball in Nebraska.

Girls high school sports were popular in the state during the early part of the 20th century. Girls played in a state basketball tournament in the new University of Nebraska Coliseum in the 1920s, and “the place was jammed to the rafters,” said Ben Rader, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor who specialized in the history of sport.

But a debate about women’s athletics was underway, with one side wanting to emphasize the “education” in physical education without competition. Nebraska athletic officials eventually put an end to sanctioned girls high school sports in 1927.

The flame of competition was rekindled by Peru physical education instructor Phyllis Davidson, who organized a high school volleyball tournament after World War II. Though still not sanctioned, more than 400 girls from 32 schools were competing on the hilltop by 1965, and boys attended to cheer them on.

Ted Harshbarger, the current associate athletic director, went to games as a youngster and served as an official as a student.

Peru State students were in charge of the tournament bracket.

MEMORIES OF PERU: BARB JONES Jones’ recollections of Peru State College reflect changing times on the hilltop. “College was so very different back in the days that I attended,” said Jones, Barb Fritz at the time.

She lived in the recently opened Centennial Complex, which had nighttime curfews.

“Men were not allowed in women’s dorms except for very special occasions,” she said.

“The winter cold days were tough walking those three blocks from the complex to the main campus as females were required to wear dresses and skirts,” Jones recalled. “No jeans or slacks until my final year, 1973, and the mini skirt was at the height of fashion.”

Bonnie Rutz (front row on right) elevated women’s sports in the 1970s.

“The place was packed,” he recalled. “They would run two courts in the old gym. Fans traveled and supported their teams, especially if you had a good team.”

By the late 1960s, more schools were hosting their own volleyball and softball tournaments as the push to sanction girls sports began to gain momentum.

But Peru State’s volleyball tournament was still the kingpin. “It was considered one of the main tournaments to win and was basically what Nebraska had as a ‘state’ tournament,” said Barb (Fritz) Jones, class of 1973, who helped officiate matches (at right).

Coach Bonnie Rutz introduced women’s varsity sports at Peru, and Jones was proud to be a member of the first varsity team as a setter.

“Power volleyball was just being introduced during this time, and ladies sports were being added to higher education institutions,” recalled Jones, who lettered two years.

The Nebraska Schools Activities Association finally caught up with Peru in 1972 by beginning its own state high school volleyball tournament. Peru President Neil Gomon had put in a bid to be the host, citing the school’s experience with its own event, but the NSAA chose Scottsbluff instead. It later was moved to Lincoln.

The entire state eventually went crazy for the sport. According to the Nebraska Prep Volleyball web site, about 100 girls from the state play college volleyball each year. In the 2015 NCAA tournament alone, 17 Nebraskans competed, including seven on the national champion University of Nebraska team.

The Peru volleyball tournament remained a major event even after the sport was sanctioned and continued into the 21st century.

Its legacy is in the thousands of girls who played on the hilltop and taught the game to future generations of Nebraskans.

Students walked everywhere, as few students on campus had cars. “No personal phones, no personal computers,” she said. “We didn’t even hardly know what a computer was and only a few had a typewriter to write your papers.”

Jones recalled Industrial Arts Club members using motorized parts to win the Homecoming float contest. She said the semiformal dance that night featured “a big white spider mum as the main corsage with a big blue ‘P’ on it.”

As for her best memories of Peru, one was tough to beat: “Getting engaged in the library (now the CATS building) in February of 1972.”

The Bobcat Spirit DOUGLAS W. PEARSON ADMITTED that he faced an uphill battle when he was named Peru’s president in 1973. “The (State Board of Education) isn’t under any mandate to keep an institution going just because it’s been there for more than 100 years,” he noted.

“I would tell them, ‘Just keep going, keep putting one foot in front of the other, because I know what you’re feeling. These four years will be over before you know it, and you’ll be wishing you could go back and do it over again.’ ” — Arlene Fell, class of 1967, on her advice to students after she joined Peru’s faculty in the 1970s

But with a century of educating young people under its belt, Peru had developed a tough hide that helped it to persevere when arrows were directed its way. The school also was adept at identifying and addressing any shortcomings while always keeping an eye on the future.

Pearson faced his first big challenge when a proposal arose in the Legislature to put together a “Southeast Nebraska State College” from Peru and the abandoned John J. Pershing College in Beatrice. The idea for a multicampus institution also included “learning centers” in Nebraska City, Falls City and Plattsmouth.

The plan ended up going nowhere amid objections from the Board of Education, the state colleges and the University of Nebraska – highlighting a lack of coordination in higher education in Nebraska.

Finally, a suggestion to close the school led about 300 students and local residents to head to the Capitol in Lincoln in March 1973 to state their case for Peru.

It was a worthwhile trip, as the group received a promise from Governor J.J. Exon: “We’re never going to close Peru. We’re going to make it better.” He pointed out that while enrollment had fallen further – to less than 800 – support per student had increased by almost 50 percent in the previous five years.

“You get the students, and we’ll provide the money,” Governor Exon pledged.

Peru State focused its recruiting efforts on southeast Nebraska and found a new level of support from the region.

Dick Hahn Jr., an Auburn banker, said: “The citizens of southeast Nebraska became concerned about the college because we finally woke up and realized that, first, this was not a

Douglas W. Pearson 1973-1977 Pearson came to Peru State from his position as dean of students at Tennessee Wesleyan College in Athens, Tennessee. Before that, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate had been assistant to the president at George Peabody College in Nashville. Pearson came to the hilltop during an economic downturn and spent much of his energy focusing on budgets and enrollment. State colleges raised tuition in his first year, and he warned that schools risked shutting out some prospective students.

His second year was marked by higher dorm rates and student fees. During his term, enrollment stabilized and work began on the Al Wheeler Activity Center. Pearson, 33 when he was appointed, was Peru State’s youngest president.

158 | PART IV

The class of 1975 makes its way to its seats for commencement.

college for Peru but for southeast Nebraska ... and that if we did not get off our fannies and work with the college instead of criticizing it, we would lose not only something important to young people, but one of the largest industries in southeast Nebraska.

“Part of the problem was that people didn’t realize we’re not solely a teachers college,” Hahn said. While 58 percent of graduates the previous year had been education majors, he noted, Peru is “basically a liberal arts school.”

Peru officials hoped in the fall of 1973 that they had reached the end of a bumpy road when they counted a 29 percent increase in freshmen, fulfilling Governor Exon’s order to “get the students.” The jump in enrollment came while Kearney and Chadron both saw decreases.

The boost in enrollment turned out to be temporary, however, and when the numbers fell back again, the results were nearly disastrous.

President Gomon had accomplished some of Peru’s construction through the use of revenue bonds, whose payments were funded by students’ room and board charges.

It had seemed to be a wise move at the time, but when dormitory occupancy dropped to 44 percent by the spring of 1975, the bonds were in danger of default.

Governor Exon vetoed a state appropriation to buy A.D. Majors Hall for $450,000 to avert the default, and it was abandoned as a dormitory.

The school tried new ideas to boost enrollment, including a plan for an academic and social center on campus for older students taking courses provided in two-week sessions.

But funding again was lacking, even for plans to boost enrollment.

PART IV | 159

PERUVIAN FADES AWAY The Peru State yearbook, for 65 years known as the Peruvian, ended its continuous string of publication in 1973.

From that point on, yearbooks would only be published periodically and never for a stretch of more than four consecutive years.

Al and Frances Wheeler, who had moved to North Carolina after retirement, returned for the 1975 Homecoming. Wheeler died in 1982, and the school named its physical education center after him.

Pearson told the State College Board that Peru would have to “tentatively suspend” spring sports because of funding. The announcement set off an alarm, and the school managed to

The school had tried to drop it in 1970-71, but a strong-willed staff kept it going.

The 1971 book’s dedication read: “What is a yearbook?

Is it a conglomeration of pictures and words placed upon paper? Or does it hold meaning? . . .

There were people on this campus who saw it as more than mere pages and pictures. To them it meant part of life.”

pull together enough money to continue the sports, partly with money raised through student

President Neal Gomon blamed finances and student apathy when the Peruvian’s end came in 1973. Only one third of students had bought the previous year’s book.

of Falls City was won over by the inexpensive tuition and the school’s size. “The people I’ve

boxing matches.

State senators again began talking about strong measures, including the consolidation of the state’s colleges, since Wayne and Chadron faced similar issues with revenue bonds.

President Pearson went to bat for Peru State and took exception to a senator’s suggestion that the campus be turned into a rehabilitation center for juvenile delinquents.

“Through his proposal, he is saying the juvenile delinquent is more valuable to the State of Nebraska than the sons and daughters of Nebraskans who want a college education,” President Pearson said.

Pearson also pointed out that Peru served a unique need in providing students a chance to go to school close to home and to really know their teachers.

Students and faculty also were quick to defend their school.

Mickey Lee Land, chairman of the school’s Education Department, said, “Something over the other colleges is the individualized attention and the small classes.” Student Michael Hall met here have become a part of me and I, a part of them.”

Pearson noted that enrollment had rebounded once again but said that he didn’t want to play a “numbers game. I just wish there were a way to measure the quality of an institution, rather than its quantity.”

The talk of closing began to take a toll on Peru’s recruiting efforts.

“People believe what they read in newspapers,” admissions director Gary Hoeman said.

“There’s no way we can counteract those effects in recruiting.”

The talk also bothered the students who were already there. “The question has come up three times since I’ve been at Peru,” student president Ruth Gottula of Steinaur said.

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Peru Remains Center Stage THEATER WAS ALIVE AND WELL in the 1970s and ‘80s, and southeast Nebraskans enjoyed the benefits. The Peru Players, formerly the Peru Dramatic Club, celebrated their 70th year in 1978. A number of productions combined music and theater, including a 1981 performance, “The Boys From Syracuse,” an adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors.” Becki Propst, class of 1981, appeared in Peru productions, including “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” (below, right). “We always did a musical with the music department,” she recalled. “It was good for both departments.”

STUDENTS WOULDN’T LET the doom and gloom talk keep them down. True to their Bobcat name, they fought back.

Athletic Director Jerry Joy had gone to student leaders in 1976 about doing something to gain the attention of legislators in support of a new health and physical education facility to replace the 70-year-old gymnasium.

“Somehow we came up with the ‘Dribble Drive,’ ” said Ted Harshbarger, the president of the Student Governing Association.

More than 200 students and faculty members in November participated in the “Bouncing Bobcat Dribble Drive,” which involved bouncing a basketball 75 miles to the Capitol in Lincoln.

“We didn’t know how long it would take,” Harshbarger admitted, but they set off from campus toward Highway 2 and Lincoln. “We guessed.”

The students used part of their Thanksgiving vacation to make the trip. The women’s basketball team took its turn during the night, arriving in uniform following a game against Nebraska Wesleyan.

A couple of school buses allowed some of the participants to rest while others dribbled.

They reached the eastern outskirts of Lincoln two hours sooner than the estimated time of arrival and stopped the buses to readjust their schedule.

“There were people sleeping in the ditches along the side of the road,” Harshbarger recalled.

Luckily, the weather cooperated, and a police escort accompanied them for the final miles.

Peru students got support on the Dribble Drive from (left to right) Joe Masopust, Guy Rosenberg, Peru Mayor Rex Allgood and Lynn Rehmeier.

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Nebraska State Senator Cal Carsten of Avoca showed off his ball skills at the Capitol to Governor J.J. Exon (center) and Peru student Ted Harshbarger (right).

Upon arrival at the Capitol steps, the women’s basketball team passed to Harshbarger, who passed to Governor Exon. “I think he got a kick out of it,” Harshbarger said.

“We know you have a problem down there,” Governor Exon said, “but I certainly do not feel it would be proper for me today to say, ‘Yes, you’ll definitely receive funds.’ ” The students weren’t through with their efforts. Several later spoke to the Legislature in support of funding for a new health and physical education center.

Harshbarger was wearing a green sweater when it came time to speak. “I said, ‘While it’s not this color of green, our swimming pool most of the time is a shade of green,’ ” he recalled.

He told the legislators that the condition of the pool was so bad that “you never could see the bottom of the pool.”

It wasn’t a new problem, either. “My mom said the same thing when she was here in 1940,” he said.

The Dribble Drive project became a good civics lesson. The students tracked the bill through the Legislature and wrote letters to state senators. “The additional little publicity we got was part of what helped sell the bill,” Harshbarger said. “As students, we were so passionate about the need for the facility.”

Their voices were heard.

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Students, faculty and alumni provided the horsepower for a plow breaking ground for the athletic center.

State Senator Cal Carsten of Avoca threw his support behind the Peru project, saying the students “exemplified the enthusiasm and spirit of the support of southeastern Nebraska for the college.”

Governor Exon also eventually recommended funding, and the Legislature in 1977 approved funds for a regional health and physical education center.

The Health, Physical Education-Sports Center – later named the Al Wheeler Activity Center – featured a new gymnasium, a swimming pool, four basketball courts and an indoor track. “It’s a godsend,” said Ervin Pitts, chairman of the physical education division at the time.

The Dribble Drive episode would achieve legendary status for what it showed of Peru’s spirit.

“It was fun because it brought students together, along with faculty and staff, for a much-needed project,” Construction in 1978 created a muddy mess.

164 | PART IV

Harshbarger said.

THE SCHOOL RECEIVED A further boost from road work on Highway 67. The gravel spur south to U.S. 136 was paved for the first time, and money also was approved to repair and improve the spur west to U.S. 75. The move was welcomed in Peru, where some cars bore bumper stickers that read, “Pray for me. I drive Highway 67.” Students referred to the rough western spur as “the buffalo trail.”

President Douglas Pearson faced a bumpy road of his own and sought a vote of confidence from faculty after a consultant, hired by the State Board of Education, reported strains between him and his staff. He stepped down in the summer of 1977 after coming down on the losing side of the vote.

Pearson acknowledged differences, but added, “It helps neither myself nor the college to dwell on these. Rather, we should dwell on the positive results of my four years at Peru.”

Leland Sherwood, chairman of the school’s Performing Arts division, was eager to put the conflict in the rearview mirror.

“Peru performs an important service to the state,” he said. “I’d like to see this emphasized, rather than personal differences here.”

The trees changing colors painted a pretty picture of campus in the 1970s.

Larry Tangeman took

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

over for Pearson in the fall

ROLAND BARRETT

the challenges ahead but said

Class of 1977 Barrett served as the band director in Indianola and Fairbury High Schools in Nebraska and later as assistant director of bands for the University of Oklahoma, where he became one of the nation’s most respected directors and arrangers of music used in athletics.

He later moved to Oklahoma’s music theory and composition staff and has published more than 200 original works and arrangements for symphonic band, chamber ensembles and marching band.

of 1977. He acknowledged his efforts were boosted by a deep reservoir of support in southeast Nebraska, loyal alumni and “a longevity unsurpassed in Nebraska.”

The Peruvian yearbook took note of the school’s situation as Tangeman took over: “Peru State College is crossing into a time when colleges all over the nation are experiencing a tough time staying financially solvent. ... College students demand more, and they must be convinced that Peru State can and will continue to give them more than UNL or any other larger university. ...

Let us not forget that things can go wrong just as fast as they can go right.”

The Festival of a Thousand Oaks in 1979 featured Omaha Symphony director Thomas Briccetti, with some of his orchestra and other outstanding artists joining students for a musical learning experience. The program took place over five weeks in the summer.

Larry Tangeman 1977-1982 Tangeman had been vice president of academic affairs at Chadron State College before coming to Peru. He graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and earned a master’s from the University of Colorado. He had taught in Gering and Scottsbluff before moving to Chadron, where he taught and filled several positions, including president for a two-year stint. Tangeman saw the support in southeast Nebraska as one of the school’s strengths when he set out to bolster declining enrollment. He increased the school’s outreach efforts into nearby communities by adding off-campus classes. He resigned after five years to help manage his family’s farm in Holt County.

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Marty Dwine conducted class in the grass on the Quad. Dwine also served as the school’s wrestling coach.

The observation had a touch of irony. While the school did have better days ahead, the Peruvian itself wouldn’t publish the next year and wouldn’t resume until 1988.

Tangeman set a goal of returning enrollment to 1,000 students, from 748 in the fall semester of 1977, and then turned his focus to the makeup of the student body. He said the school needed to improve in helping students succeed, since 52 percent of the previous year’s freshmen hadn’t returned for their sophomore year. But he promised that academic standards would not be lowered for the sake of higher enrollment.

Tangeman found good news to promote, pointing to the school’s high number of athletes on campus and saying, “A lot of our pride at Peru is developed in the gym and on the football field.”

Enrollment rose to 912 in 1980, up from 766 in the fall of 1979, with school officials crediting the opening of the physical education building and the completion of the work on Highway 67 linking it to U.S. 75.

Academic vice president Clyde Barrett said students had referred to the gravel back roads used to get to campus during construction as “the Oregon Trail.”

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MAKING A DIFFERENCE Kent Propst, class of 1981, also recalled how the road constuction became a bonding

WILLIAM B. EDMONDSON

experience. “Until 67 was fixed, it was an island,” he said of campus. “It was great, because

Class of 1948

you relied on one another.”

Edmondson served in the U.S. Army during World War II and later joined the State Department. He held overseas posts in Ghana and Zambia and served as educational and cultural affairs officer at the State Department.

President Jimmy Carter appointed him ambassador to South Africa in 1978, during a turbulent time in that country.

He represented the United States in condemning apartheid policies and voicing strong support for civil rights and democratic reform. He left his post in 1981 and within five years, U.S. economic sanctions were pushing South Africa down the road to political reform.

The school got another boost from changes in residency requirements that were expected to increase the number of students from neighboring states Iowa, Missouri and Kansas.

The new rule allowed students of age 19 and older to establish residency, and thereby obtain in-state tuition, by living in the state for six months. The previous rule had required a full year.

“This rule will make the Peru State experience more acceptable to students near here who have traditionally looked for small colleges,” said Pat Larsen, director of college relations.

She pointed out that the bulk of the school’s enrollment came from a 90-mile radius, with about 20 percent from Iowa, Missouri and Kansas.

A sluggish economy hurt state sales tax revenue and put a halt to any progress that Peru might have been making. The Legislature provided a tight budget in May 1981 for the year ahead, forcing administrators to reallocate funds from maintenance and student services for any improvement. Six months later, senators approved a mid-school year budget cut of 3 percent, forcing administrators to scramble even more.

President Tangeman resigned a month later, effective at the end of the school year.

Enrollment had risen from 748 to 855 when he left.

“I think he has done a really good job of improving the image of the college, and he has always been open and available to meet with students about problems,” said Chris Walsh of Gretna, president of the student body.

Jack Hamilton, president of the Peru State College Faculty Association, said Tangeman “provided leadership in increasing enrollment, improving staff morale, upgrading faculty and creating teamwork between faculty and administration.”

Tangeman deflected praise, saying he couldn’t take credit for the good things that had happened during his tenure. “The people of Peru State College have done it,” he said.

AT H L E T I C H A L L O F FA M E : F O OT B A L L , 1 9 8 0 The Bobcats finished 9-1, the school’s first 9-win season in 28 years, and were the first Peru team to land in the final NAIA Top 10. Coach Jerry Joy’s team averaged 38 points a game, second nationally, and broke a school season scoring record that had stood since 1927. The defense held seven opponents to 12 or fewer points.

Running back Alvin Holder and receiver Roosevelt Brown were NAIA All-Americans. The only blemish in the 9-1 season was a one-point loss; no other opponent came within 10 points of the Bobcats.

M E M O R I E S O F P E R U : K E N T A N D B E C K I P R O P S T, C L A S S O F 1 9 8 1

As an institution, Peru State College endured a period of tight budgets and stagnant enrollment during the 1970s and early 1980s.

But for Kent and Becki Propst and other students at the time, the campus was a vibrant, close-knit community that created an opportunity for close friendships.

“There weren’t very many of us,” Kent said. “It was just a very strong sense of community. Friends who would visit on weekends noticed it.”

Peru students were heavily engaged with athletics and activities out of necessity, with a need to fill out rosters, casts, staffs and clubs. The time together created a special bond.

“There weren’t enough of us around to not get along,” he said.

A small, welcoming environment was just what Becki needed. Originally from Des Moines, she came to Peru State recently divorced with no previous college experience. “I liked the small campus,” she said. “It felt like a good place to start.”

Her interest in drama led her to take part in Peru theater productions.

“Activities were critical because if you lived in Peru, you pretty much had to be involved,” she said. “Our theater program was so comprehensive.

We took turns managing the play or working on the stage.

“Our enrollment was brutally low at the time, but that also made us stick together,” she said.

Becki also served as editor of the Pedagogian student newspaper.

Kent worked for the paper as well, and in sports information.

He had grown up on a farm and was the first generation in his family to attend college.

Kent said a large university would have “chewed me up and spit me out. If it were not for Peru giving me a chance, giving me a journalism scholarship ... that was my break in life. Everything I know and I’ve done, I owe to that place.”

A Time to Grow NOBODY SAID THE Peru State president’s job was easy in 1982. But in spite of the challenges, more than 100 applicants put in their bids to replace Larry Tangeman.

The State College Board of Trustees eventually settled on Jerry Gallentine to be president, and he immediately set his sights on improved marketing to boost enrollment.

“You can have the best program available, and if nobody knows, it’s like having a party and nobody showing up,” he said.

“I’ve inherited some very good things,” Gallentine said, taking care to praise a staff that worked for the good of the college. “This institution is in excellent shape.”

He made no bones about it: Enrollment was going to rise on his watch.

Among Gallentine’s ideas were columns written by staff and faculty members in local papers, improved relations with area employers and more advertising throughout the state.

He also advocated courses for older, part-time students, while expanding the school’s reach in southeast Nebraska. In addition, he helped to reactivate the Peru Chamber of Commerce and drum up support for new businesses to help the town’s image.

His efforts paid early dividends. Enrollment rose 9.5 percent in the spring of 1983, although it was off a low number in the wake of Tangeman’s departure. With the good news, he outlined his long-range plan to reach 1,500 students in five years.

“With everyone working together – faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends of Peru State College – we’ll reach that goal,” he promised.

Science professor Daryl Long told of reacting skeptically at an early faculty meeting with Gallentine when the new president showed a chart of projected enrollment with a line rising sharply on the right side.

“I said to myself, ‘What have you been smoking?’ ” Long recalled.

Jerry Gallentine President, 1982-1990 Gallentine came to Peru State from Labette Community College in Parsons, Kansas, where he had been president. He also had taught at Midland College in Fremont. Enrollment doubled on his watch, and he was responsible for helping revive the Peru master of education program, which had been dead for more than 20 years. Under his direction, Peru State took a greater leadership role in promoting growth in rural areas. He worked to form a cooperative program between the college and Nebraska Public Power District, resulting in a bachelor of science degree with a major in nuclear technology.

Gallentine left to become president of Western New Mexico University in Silver City.

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Gallentine said marketing Peru as a “new and improved” school would help attract students.

While exuding confidence, Gallentine admitted later to the State College Board that he had suffered through moments when he wondered why he took the job. Still, he preferred to focus on the future, saying there was “much more fun” in tackling a challenging situation than one where everything was working perfectly.

His effort to draw in older students began to bear fruit, and he predicted that the numbers would continue to grow as Nebraska’s population aged.

“The whole idea of college education is going to have to change,” Gallentine said.

Spencer Davis came to Peru in 1983 to teach history and noticed the growing wave of non-traditional students on campus.

“That added an interesting new group to the student body, and I enjoyed teaching them,” he said. “Many of them were very enthusiastic at getting a chance to come to college when they thought they had lost it.”

Davis said the older students “put a spark in a class. There were enough of them on a small campus to change the atmosphere.”

PART IV | 171

GALLENTINE CONTINUED to find new ways to reach prospective students. The school mailed 88,000 copies of its class schedule to prospective students and began working more closely with high school counselors.

Athletic director and football coach Jerry Joy was given the job of dean of students and head of admissions and turned his recruiting efforts from sports to academics. “I think most college admissions officers feel that students are going to come to them,” Joy said. “But that day is gone. You have to get out there and hustle.”

School representatives made trips to high schools, sponsored a “Peru State Day” for students at an Omaha hotel and took names of prospective students at the State Fair in Lincoln.

After gathering 3,000 “prospects,” Peru recruiters began sending out brochures and encouraging visits to campus.

Peru’s enrollment in the fall of 1983 shot up 23.5 percent to 1,006 – the highest since 1970 – and Gallentine’s push for non-traditional students paid off in a 38.1 percent increase in off-campus enrollment.

Joy called President Gallentine’s earlier goal of 1,500 students “far too conservative,” but he promised that the school wasn’t just focusing on getting new students.

“We spend a lot of time keeping people happy here,” he said, pointing to a new program to assign each freshman to a local Coach Jerry Joy with quarterback Mick Haney, who still holds Peru passing records. Alvin Holder, who played with Haney on Bobcat teams, said Joy “influenced my life tremendously. His words and encouragement have stayed with me throughout my life.”

family to act as parents away from home.

The new students had gotten the message that recruiters were sending.

M E M O R I E S O F P E R U : A LV I N H O L D E R , C L A S S O F 1 9 8 2 Holder described coming from his home in Tampa, Florida, to Peru State College as a “culture shock.”

He played football under Coach Jerry Joy and set a school record with 5,033 yards rushing. He ran for more than 100 yards 27 times in his four-year career and more than 200 yards seven times. A first-team All–American twice, Holder led the nation in rushing in 1980 with 179.3 yards a game. The Bobcats compiled a 27-20-3 record during his career and were 9-1 during his remarkable 1980 season.

“Those honors were only attained through a team effort,” Holder said. “Those other 10 guys that gave their all to win a game and allow me to wear the honors are among my most positive and outstanding memories.”

Football doesn’t dominate his thoughts about college. “I met my wonderful wife of 30 plus years at Peru State College and have two lovely daughters and a grandson,” he said.

And his favorite memory from the hilltop remains commencement in 1982, “when I walked across the stage at Peru State College and received my degree, a dream that my now-passed mother had hoped and prayed for during my college days.”

Tammy Krofta of Table Rock and Gallentine check out some of the new Peru State apparel in the bookstore.

Freshman Joan Rynaski of Omaha said she wanted to attend a smaller school away from home.

“A friend of mine had come down here, and she said there were a lot of nice people here,” she said.

Ron Hackbart of Tecumseh transferred from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “I just decided that the personalized touch with the teachers was more what I was looking for, rather than just being a number,” he said.

The school’s size was a major selling point for Peru and not just for students.

History professor Sara Crook had obtained degrees on the expansive campuses of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Iowa before joining the Social Sciences Department at Peru in the fall of 1984.

“One of the things that struck me right off the bat was how friendly everybody was,” she said. “And that faculty called students by name on the sidewalk. And I thought, ‘That wasn’t my college experience.’ ” Crook was pleased with the contrast Peru offered from large universities. “There, you can walk around in pretty much total silence all day,” she said. “The fact that everybody (at Peru) seemed to know everybody was charming.”

But the difference was more significant than just greeting people on campus, she said.

“I began to see the real niche that Peru fills.”

She thought the school offered an especially good environment for students from small rural high schools. “Many, particularly if they’re not real extroverts, might just be lost at a big university,” she said.

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A telemarketing operation opened behind the Centennial Complex in 1986.

REMEMBERING PERU NORMAL Joy Elmer Morgan, who died in 1986, left his entire estate to Peru State College in the single largest gift at the time.

Morgan, a 1911 Nebraska State Normal graduate, was the first director of the National Education Association’s division of publications in 1920 and edited the NEA’s Journal until he retired in 1954.

PRESIDENT GALLENTINE’S PUSH to broaden the student profile began to pay off, with enrollment figures showing around 40 percent of students were 23 years of age or older.

In the fall of 1985, enrollment hit 1,475 on and off campus – an increase of 65.4 percent from the fall of 1981.

Daryl Long, who earlier had been skeptical of enrollment projections, was won over by the efforts of Gallentine, whom he termed “a go-getter.”

It might have been too much of a good thing. By the end of the year, officials were considering capping enrollments at the state colleges after the Legislature turned to midyear budget cuts.

The state was coming to grips with the effects of an agricultural recession in which the state had lost 5 percent of its jobs and low agricultural prices had caused farmland values to plummet.

It turned out the funding couldn’t keep pace with President Gallentine’s boost in enrollment, and Peru was forced to cut staff positions.

“He was getting the student population up, but he couldn’t get the money he needed,” Long recalled. “He was always running behind the eight ball. They’d always fund him a year behind, so he was always operating in the red.”

Gallentine expressed his frustration. “The nation must recognize that support for higher education is no longer a necessary evil,” he said, declaring it essential to the state’s efforts to develop leadership and use new technology. Undaunted, he continued to spin out new ideas to boost the school.

In the summer of 1986, the State College Board of Trustees approved a contract with Peru Enterprises Inc. to remodel space on campus to house Telecommunications Marketing Inc. of Omaha.

Gallentine estimated that Peru State students and area residents answering phones on campus could pump more than $600,000 a year in salaries alone into the southeast Nebraska economy.

The Peru Achievement Foundation financed the remodeling, and after those costs were repaid, the annual revenue would go to the college for scholarships and operating costs. The operation was the first such enterprise on a college campus in the United States, Gallentine said.

In addition, the school began offering a master of education degree.

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Enrollment continued to swell, passing 1,500 in 1987, with 520 living on campus.

The continued growth reflected a changing student body. Kent Propst, director of college advancement at the time, pointed out that 40 percent of the school’s students were 25 years old or older.

Ellen Kruger exemplified the success of non-traditional students who started or returned to school at a later stage in their lives. Kruger, a farmer’s wife with an 11-year-old child, won a $1,000 scholarship from the Entomological Society of America. The award also allowed Kruger, a decade older than many of her classmates, to present formal scholarly papers – on sand fly behavior – at the society’s convention in Louisville, Kentucky.

Peru was ahead of the curve in drawing non-traditional students to campus. The U.S. Department of Education estimated that the number of people 30 and older at colleges and universities rose from 2.7 million in 1980 to 4 million in 1990.

The 1988 Peruvian yearbook took note of the different types of students on campus: trads (traditional), non-trads and commuters.

“With the mixture of trads, non-trads and commuters, PSC has quite the melting pot.

When it comes right down to it, they all enjoy the same basic freedoms, activities and parking lots.

“For the most part, the only difference is their age. One (other) difference might be found in academics. Non-trads tend to bring home a higher grade point average. On the other hand, non-trads feel that traditional students don’t understand what the non-trads have to sacrifice to attend college.

“As one can see, the lifestyles of PSC students vary from one direction to another, but they all enjoy college life and the Peyton Place it creates.”

The Fifth Generation of Joys Jennifer Joy Krug in 1986 and Mike Joy in 1994 marked the fifth generation of graduates from the family of Anna Moorhead Joy, a member of Peru’s first graduating class in 1870.

“I feel privileged to be part of something larger than myself,” said Jennifer, who was a married, non-traditional student at Peru.

Mike had fond memories of campus life, including friends, social events and participating in Phi Beta Lambda. But he said that “perhaps the best part was learning the process of learning. ... That lust for learning has carried forward throughout the rest of my life.”

When they graduated, both sister and brother posed for photos beside the boulder that commemorates Peru’s first graduating class, which included Anna Moorhead Joy. “I am proud to be part of a family that has consistently valued education and learning for five generations,” Jennifer said. “We have been part of the building blocks of PSC every generation since its beginnings.”

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SCHOOL OFFICIALS, WHETHER BENDING to changing times or merely attempting to boost student morale, began allowing members of the opposite sex to visits dorms from 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

CAMPUS LIFE

1980s

Smoking was banned in buildings but still allowed in the dormitories, the Student Center’s Bob Inn dining area and TV lounge, and a few other locations. The school was employing one security guard, who patrolled between 5 p.m. and 2 a.m., checking doors on buildings.

The school began the Cooperative Vocational Education Program, which provided an internship at a business related to the course of study. “It gives the student an idea of what the job is going to be like, “ said Ted Harshbarger, director of the program at the time.

“The student can decide, ‘Yes, this is for me,’ or ‘No, this isn’t for me.’“ The Peru Times newpaper began in the fall of 1989, a successor to the Pedagogian, and began printing in Nebraska City. The name change was a good idea. In the Ped’s final year, it created a controversy by quoting a student government officer as saying, “It is the non-trads who do the most bitching.”

Twenty new computers were added around campus in 1989.

Computer rooms in residence halls were open from 8 a.m to midnight Monday through Friday and on Sundays from 4 p.m. to midnight. The Student Center computer lab was open to all, while students were responsible for paper for the printers.

Students were required to take at least one hour of computer science.

Computers were located in the library, the science building and the industrial arts building.

A course was offered on managing stress. Participants learned to analyze stressful situations and to develop a program of diet, exercise, and time and stress management.

Everett Browning (right), professor emeritus, guided young journalists at Peru from 1969 to 1986.

Members of the college’s Industrial Arts Club and the Peru Kiwanis Club joined in a Christmas toy project in 1983.

“It’s a joint goodwill project that makes Christmas more meaningful,” said Industrial Arts Club President Michael Rain. Taking part in the basement of the Industrial Arts Building were (from left) mathematics professor Lyle McKercher, student Kevin Schlange, English professor Silas Summers, Rain and business professor Jack Hamilton.

They assembled 150 toys in a week.

Peru offered cultural diversity in 1988 in the form of an Omaha Ballet company visit and concerts by Cheap Trick (above) and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.

The Peru Players completed their most successful year in 1989-90 with a record total attendance of 2,500.

Seeking New Solutions THE SEARCH FOR NEW WAYS to best fund education created both adversity and opportunity for Peru State College in the 1990s.

The Legislature in the spring of 1989 approved a measure to turn the 9,000-student campus of Kearney State College into the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Supporters

“Some classes had to be held in science laboratories, and faculty members were literally stashed in closets about the campus.

But no one complained too loudly.”

— Kent Propst, director of college relations during renovations to the T.J. Majors Building

of the proposal contended that Kearney had outgrown its fellow state colleges in Chadron, Peru and Wayne. Indeed, Kearney’s enrollment of full-time students at times had outnumbered the three smaller schools combined.

The backers also contended that Kearney had more in common with the larger members of the NU system: the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the NU Medical Center in Omaha.

In addition, the proposal called for an assessment of the state’s higher education system.

“I think it has great potential as far as giving direction to the future of higher education in the state of Nebraska,” said Celann LaGreca of Omaha, vice chairman of the State College Board of Trustees.

Governor Kay Orr capped off the 1988-89 school year at Peru by arriving by helicopter to speak at commencement.

While she gave no hints of her views on the measure to reorganize higher education, she signed the bill into law after returning to Lincoln. A court test followed, but the Nebraska Supreme Court in May of 1990 resolved the matter, and Kearney State College became the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Peru’s fate in the revamped state college system came at an already unsettled time.

Just two weeks before the court ruling, Jerry Gallentine had announced he was leaving to become president of Western New Mexico University. William Snyder, Peru State vice president, was named to serve as interim president until a successor was found.

AT H L E T I C H A L L O F FA M E

Women’s Basketball 1987-88 Coach Wayne Davidson’s team set the stage for what would become a long tradition of excellence in women’s basketball. The Bobcats won a school record 23 games, finishing 23-7 despite a rugged schedule and qualifying for the NAIA playoffs. They put together a string of 17 consecutive home-court victories and outscored opponents by an average of almost 14 points per game. Peru featured a balanced offense, with eight different players leading in scoring during games.

T.J. Majors Training School alums Kathryn Applegate and Margaret Tynon checked out the T.J. Majors Building after it was renovated and rededicated in 1989.

During President Gallentine’s tenure at Peru State, enrollment had more than doubled, from about 850 to 1,720. He had resurrected the Peru State master of education program and had merged four academic divisions into two to whittle administrative costs.

“During much of his time at Peru, the college labored under the burden of reduced funding from the state, yet was able to sustain its growth,” an Omaha World-Herald editorial said of Gallentine. “That, along with the talented staff he assembled, is a testament to his abilities as a leader and an administrator.”

William Snyder President 1990-1991 Snyder, who had been vice president of academic affairs, stepped in when Jerry Gallentine resigned as Peru State president to take the helm of Western New Mexico University. Snyder dealt with financial issues and finding funds to renovate the president’s house while he served, but he also was able to preside over the school’s national championship in football. His term also was noteworthy in that his daughter Amy was president of the student senate while he held Peru’s top position.

“We may be the only college campus anywhere with a father-daughter combination of administrative and student body leadership, “ said Kent Propst, public affairs director at the time.

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AT H L E T I C H A L L O F FA M E : F O OT B A L L , 1 9 9 0 Peru State College’s history has been enriched by sports tradition and accomplishments. When it comes to school pride, nothing quite compares with a national championship.

The Bobcats claimed the 1990 NAIA Division II football title, an especially impressive accomplishment considering their opponent: two-time defending champion Westminster College of New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. Westminster has a total of six national championships in its history.

Peru State completed a 12-0-1 season with a 17-7 victory over Westminster at UNO’s Caniglia Field. In a season in which the Bobcats broke several passing, rushing, receiving and scoring records, their defense was often overlooked.

But they earned a reputation for the ages by limiting the Titans to 266 yards of total offense and holding three of four playoff opponents to 7 or fewer points.

Nate Bradley, voted the offensive player of the game, completed 15 of 34 passes for 238 yards, with one interception.

Bob Hansen, a junior linebacker from Ashland, Nebraska, earned the defensive honor with 15 tackles, including a quarterback sack.

Bradley called it the high point of his career. “There’s no comparison, “ he said. “I’ve never been No. 1 at anything in my life.”

Coach Tom Shea, who had come to Peru in 1986, used his coaching connections to bring in All-America quarterback Bradley from New Jersey and safety Cornelius Riley from Florida and blended them with local talent. Peru State’s preseason roster featured 42 Nebraskans and 35 out-ofstate players.

During his five years as the Bobcat head coach, Shea’s teams went 35-17-1, twice won the Nebraska College Conference and twice went to the playoffs. “It took a lot of people – the administration, the assistant coaches, a great group of athletes – to realize the dream, “ Shea said.

The drive to the championship energized the hilltop.

Enthusiasm was running high “across the campus, throughout the town and a lot of southeast Nebraska,” said Jerry Joy, dean of students at the time. “I think we’re at the height of everything that’s going on at the school.”

“In terms of any single event, I can’t think of anything that has generated as much excitement as this, and I’ve been on this campus for 20 years,” said William Snyder, the school’s interim president at the time.

Paul Fell’s cartoon in the Lincoln Journal poked fun at the University of Nebraska’s championship futility at the time.

Peru safety Cornelius Riley (15) led a defensive effort that produced eight sacks in the title game.

Peru State celebrated the 25th anniversary of the national football championship in 2015. In attendance were team members (back row, left to right) Matt Hug, Alex Malcom, Cory Catterson, Terry Clark, Scott Sullivan, Jim Wenzl, Bryan Sullivan, Chuck Humphrey, Tim Bowen, Ryan Rischling, Rondel Korbelik; and (front row, left to right) Dan Gauchat, Louie Lantz, Tony Uhlir, Bobby Stephens, Stephen Gaines, Scott Gerdes, Brent Strittmatter, Sam Walkup, Jeff Leo, Sam Pfeifer, Mark Fritch, Dellyn Feighner, Aaron Bailey, Barry McGooden.

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THE STATE COLLEGE SYSTEM quickly adapted to life without Kearney State.

History professor Spencer Davis recalled that Kearney’s sway in the state college system had frustrated Peru at times. “When it came to the budget priorities, Peru would be up there, and something would happen, and boom! It would go to number 10, and a Kearney project would go to the top,” he said. “Kearney always had a claim to a larger slice of the pie.”

NIGHTMARE ON HOYT STREET A Halloween storm with rain, snow and wind spooked the Campus of a Thousand Oaks in 1991. The aftermath reminded Peru State College President Robert Burns of a tornado he experienced in Kansas.

“It really looked as if bombs had exploded,” he said.

“So many of the trees, more than just losing limbs, were split at the trunk.”

But Kearney’s entry into the University of Nebraska system changed the equation.

In October 1989, Peru’s major capital construction request of $2.9 million for a library addition and renovation had been pitted against Kearney State’s $2.1 million request to add a third floor to Founders Hall and $1.9 million to upgrade electrical systems. Peru’s plan had taken a back seat.

In 1990, with Kearney’s needs no longer before the State College Board of Trustees, Peru found its library request moving forward.

Coincidentally, Peru’s library in the fall of 1990 was making the transition to a computerized catalog system, rendering the old library cards obsolete.

Peru State students used the occasion to fuel their homecoming celebration, tossing cards and other old library materials into the annual bonfire – with the blessings of the administration.

“Paul Kruse, our director of learning resources, came up with this ‘novel’ idea,” Kent Propst, Peru’s director of communications, said drily at the time.

No one was injured, but faculty members who lived in an oncampus apartment complex were provided a skylight they didn’t have before the storm.

A tree limb fell through the roof, damaging heat ducts and wiring before landing in a living room.

Esther Divney, education professor, retired in 1990 after 42 years of teaching, including 15 at Peru.

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A ONE-TWO FINISH

Nebraska and Iowa middle school students participated in a two-week theater class at Peru State’s Academic Adventures camp in 1991.

Robert Burns was named to replace Jerry Gallentine as president in the spring of 1991.

Burns said he felt certain of Peru’s continuing role in Nebraska education. “If we weren’t here, somebody would have to invent us,” he said.

In August 1991, Governor Ben Nelson gave the members of the new Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education the task of determining the fate of new and existing programs and of proposing capital construction projects for the state’s institutions of higher learning. The group had been given more authority than the previous Postsecondary Coordinating Commission, but state school officials generally welcomed better oversight.

The State College Board of Trustees addressed budget shortfalls and a decline in state funding by increasing in-state tuition 7.4 percent at the three state colleges and followed it up in 1992 with another 4.6 percent increase. Out-of-state tuition rose even more.

Robert Burns 1991-1998 Burns came to Peru from his position as vice president for academic affairs at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. He also had served since 1986 as principal academic officer at Washburn and as interim president from 1988 to 1990. He had been chairman of the faculty senate twice during his 14 years at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse and served as executive director of the West Central Wisconsin Consortium in the Wisconsin system. Burns also was dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and dean of the graduate program at Morehead (Kentucky) State University. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1965 from Kentucky Southern College, his master’s degree from the University of Florida and his doctorate from the University of Louisville.

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Peru State students Sheri Rumbaugh and Tamara Surette took first and second place in the Entomological Society of America Conference in New Orleans.

Their projects were directed by faculty members Carol and Larry Pappas.

Rumbaugh’s winning project focused on how mosquitoes would be affected by changes in their environment. The mosquitoes came from Indian Cave Park and a tire pile near Falls City.

DARYL LONG Science Long (on left) joined the faculty in 1967, Peru State

INSPIRING

FACULTY

College’s centennial year, and retired after 50 years at the school, as the school prepared for its sesquicentennial. He taught multiple generations of students and lent a hand with regional efforts on matters such as ethanol and conservation.

SPENCER DAVIS History “The strength of Peru State College is its faculty, dedicated to, and genuinely enthusiastic about, full-time classroom teaching,” Davis wrote in 1998. He has practiced what he preached.

“Dr. Davis is always able to recommend a book that will be helpful and insightful, no matter what the topic in question might be,” said former student Michelle Kaiser. Davis’ public lectures have been a highlight of regional historical observances.

SARA CROOK AND DAN HOLTZ History and English Crook and Holtz in 1996 scheduled their first Nebraska tour, called “Trails and Tales,” featuring instruction on Nebraska history and literature. “We realize that so much of the literature of Nebraska has historical connotations,” Crook said. “That led us to start the project. “ They have both been active in their support of other campus activities and events. Crook has directed History Day for history students for more than 30 years. Holtz’s contributions have included serving as faculty advisor for the school newspaper. The load of additional duties did not keep them from excelling in their classroom duties.

“Dr. Holtz would listen to my ambitions and encourage me every step I took, especially when the steps began to get harder to take,” said Raenna Carbaugh, class of 2015. “Dr. Crook is pretty awesome,” Logan Paben, a recipient of the national A.O. Duer Award for student athletes, said when asked to name the faculty members who had been most influential in his academic career.

LESTER RUSSELL Industrial Arts Russell, a 1951 Peru State graduate, retired in 1995 after teaching industrial arts for 39 years.

“I like the people; I like the smaller campus; and I like the camaraderie, “ Russell said in explaining why he turned down offers to work at larger colleges. He was willing to revise the curriculum in response to new trends and said computers provided the greatest change in teaching. “Doc’s the best teacher I’ve ever had, “ Peru senior John Gengel said at the time.

Burns feared colleges would not be able to indefinitely maintain good service to students if state funds stagnated while enrollments continued to rise. “We’re being told, ‘Do more with less,’ ” he said.

Kent Propst said Burns inherited a difficult financial situation when he took office. “(Burns) didn’t get a honeymoon period,” Propst said. “He never got a chance to be the good guy.”

Amid the continuing budget strain, a member of the State College Board of Trustees in early 1993 floated the idea of solving the problem by moving Peru’s campus to another community – one willing to provide financial incentives.

“I don’t want to get all the communities in southeast Nebraska fighting with each other,” the trustee said. “But if somebody said, ‘We’ve got the land and $10 million,’ that would go a long way toward building a new campus.”

He conceded that relocating the college was “a very remote possibility” and added that he and other trustees had no intention of closing it.

“The state’s asking us to be innovative,” another trustee said. “The truth is, we really need time to do our homework.”

Board members stressed that they saw a strong need for higher education in southeast Nebraska. But they acknowledged that Peru State needed a substantial amount of state money to cover improvements in electrical and mechanical systems, plus an estimated $2 million to make buildings and walkways accessible to the disabled.

RECOGNITION FOR FACULTY, STAFF The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools extended accreditation for 10 years in 1991, citing “the willingness of faculty and staff to assume additional duties to offset financial shortfalls.”

Interim president William Snyder said, “The team identified as our number one strength a very dedicated group of professionals who go the extra mile.

They truly captured the spirit of Peru State College.”

AT H L E T I C H A L L O F FA M E : F O OT B A L L , 1 9 9 1 Tom Shea, who led the Peru State College Bobcats to the 1990 NAIA II title, left in 1991 to become football coach at the University of Mary in North Dakota. Peru found his replacement in Lou Saban, who had taken the Buffalo Bills to two American Football League titles. In addition to the Bills, he also coached the Boston Patriots (now New England) and the Denver Broncos.

In fact, Saban was O.J. Simpson’s coach at Buffalo in 1972 when Simpson became the NFL’s first 2,000-yard rusher.

His college teams included Army, Maryland, Western Illinois, Northwestern and Miami. Saban said he found out about the Peru State opening from his son, Tom, who was the vice president of finance at Chadron State College.

Defensive tackle Kurt Hasley, the only player on the search committee, said Saban was the overriding choice among the players. “They were all just as excited as I was to have someone like that, “ said Hasley. “He was really vocal about what he had to say. I mean, the guy has all the experience in the world.

I was impressed.”

Quarterback Nate Bradley, with Coach Lou Saban, was the first Nebraska college quarterback to throw for more than 10,000 yards.

Saban stayed only one year, but it was a successful one. The Bobcats, led by senior quarterback Nate Bradley, finished 7-4 while playing against some NCAA Division II teams and made it to the semifinals of the NAIA playoffs, falling to the eventual national champions.

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The Art of Making Do PERU STATE COLLEGE’S ART DEPARTMENT created an art haven in the college’s old gymnasium basement, which had been abandoned after the college’s Al Wheeler Activity Center was completed in 1980. Art professors Ken Anderson and Leland Sherwood and students did much of the work. Students helped remove bleachers and move equipment from the Jindra Fine Arts Building.

Anderson estimated that the department had at least 7,000 square feet when all Ken Anderson of the nooks were included.

The main room formerly housed the swimming pool, which was covered, and the space was used for drawing and painting classes.

The shower and locker rooms were used for pottery and sculpture classes. Other rooms included studios for each faculty member, a studio for senior art majors, a small student gallery and a lecture hall.

To equip the new space, Sherwood and Anderson went on a campuswide scavenger hunt. They collected cabinets from the discontinued Home Economics Department, discarded work tables from the Industrial Arts Department and chairs and desks in storage. Anderson said 90 percent of the equipment either came from other departments or was made at Peru. The number of art majors increased to 40 from 28 after the move.

Art professor Leland Sherwood (left) with Paul Fell, class of 1967.

Art professor Leland Sherwood held a retrospective of his work in 1992 at the Jindra Fine Arts Building. At the time, a watercolor by Sherwood also was on display at the American Association of School Administrators in Arlington, Virginia. Today, his work is displayed prominently on campus and across southeast Nebraska, both in private and public settings.

President Burns managed in his first two years to remedy Peru State College’s financial burden with the help of Vice President of Administration and Finance Gregory Stauffer. In addition, the school instituted a program to collect on hundreds of thousands of dollars in tuition and in room and board that had not been collected during the years before Burns came.

With the financial outlook improving at Peru and the other state colleges, the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education in 1994 began to flex its muscles in its oversight of the state’s higher education.

Officials put their stamp of approval on an agreement that guaranteed two-year degrees and course work done at Southeast Community College would be accepted for credit by Peru State. The commission noted that community college students previously had to negotiate with individual four-year colleges over transfer credits.

The state colleges also were encouraged to seek out their own ways to expand their missions.

Early in 1996, the commission gave conditional approval for Peru State to open a branch in an old Elks Club building in Nebraska City. Besides traditional courses, the college also planned to offer classes designed to apply computer data to business and other settings.

The idea of branching out to areas outside campus would have unexpected consequences, but it was an idea that eventually would bear fruit.

Double Teaming the NAIA Basketball was the talk of the hilltop in 1993 as both the men’s and women’s teams made it to NAIA national tournaments. The men, who advanced to Nampa, Idaho, hadn’t been to the national tournament since 1966.

It was the first trip ever for the women, whose tournament was in Monmouth, Oregon.

Ted Harshbarger, director of cooperative education and career services at the time, was the ringleader behind a trip to see both Peru teams play at the national tournaments.

Harshbarger and three Peru State students – Brent Strittmatter, Rick Reisen and Aaron Bailey – drove 37 hours straight from Nebraska to Oregon to see the women’s game.

After watching the Bobcats defeat St. Joseph’s of Maine on a Wednesday night, the four then drove eight hours to Men’s co-captains and the women’s captain for the 1992-93 teams were Nampa to catch the men’s game the next morning against (from left) Fredd Ward, Lora White, Ivan Wineglass and Rod Green.

Tiffin of Ohio. Peru State responded with a 92-82 victory, and the quartet again set its sights on Oregon.

“We wanted to get back for the second-round women’s game, but it didn’t work out, “ Harshbarger said. “A flight we needed to take to make it in time was sold out. So we just stayed with the men’s team.” The women lost their second-round games, while the men advanced to the Elite Eight. Harshbarger called the 3,900-mile, six-day excursion a positive experience. “It was a fun trip, “ he said. Peru State Sports Information Director Vince Henzel said the teams appreciated the quest. “They’re die-hard fans or crazy, one or the other, “ he said of the travelers. “But it was really nice to see some familiar faces out there.” The 1992-93 men’s team is in the Peru State College Athletic Hall of Fame.

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STUDENTS HAD A COUPLE OF OPPORTUNITIES for part-time employment nearby.

ITI Marketing Services of Omaha opened an outbound telemarketing center at Peru State in 1992, taking over the office vacated by the company that had operated on campus since

CAMPUS LIFE

1990s

1986. The same year, Casey’s General Stores opened its service station south of the school.

A mild earthquake shook campus in 1993. “It was almost like there were thousands of people in the building, and they all fell down at the same time,” student Nicki Kreifels said.

The Peru Times complained about vandalism on campus: “When a window is broken or similar vandalism occurs, the students responsible feel that they are getting away with something but ... PSC exhausts a large sum of money each year for dorm maintenance.”

Campus facilities underwent some changes with the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Among the modifications were curb cuts, parking stalls, Braille signs, and handrails and ramps along stairways.

The volleyball program was successful on the court and in the classroom.

The 13 Bobcats on the 1999 team recorded a 3.64 grade-point average to receive their fourth straight AVCA Team Academic Award.

Steve Baumert (left) of Clarkson and Sam Klein of Seward rehearsed with the marching band.

Joan Stutesman (below) of Wilber bundled up on a cold day.

Theater was popular on the hilltop before the program became limited by budget constraints. The Peru Players in 1990 completed their most successful year with more students involved and a record total attendance of 2,500 for the year.

Peru State finished as the NAIA’s fourth-best rushing offense with 3,081 yards in 1997.

The offensive line, which battled through several injuries, allowed just one sack per game.

Ruby Douglas (left with Jim Gilbert) was the star of the 1999 Peru State College Homecoming parade.

The school’s 89-year-old cafeteria worker thought she had been recruited by the students to judge parade entries. Instead, she was crowned “Homecoming Queen Mother” and rode in a convertible to lead the parade.

“The kids keep me young,” she said.

Forging a New Era FROM ITS VERY FIRST YEAR on the hilltop, Peru’s school has always met adversity head on. John McKenzie and his students climbed onto the roof of Mount Vernon Hall to nail down the tarpaper when storms came rolling across the Plains. While Walter Pate had shepherded the school through the Great Depression by cutting faculty salaries, music professor Victor Jindra still found reason for a “renewed faith and hope” in the classroom. Campus tragedy had preceded President Neal Gomon’s arrival on campus, but he led the school to yet another pinnacle in celebrating its first 100 years. “Our thoughts are turned backward by pride in the past and ahead by the welcome challenges of the future,” Gomon wrote.

One such challenge arrived in 1997. Peru’s Hoyt Science Building lacked the space needed for modern science laboratories, and the size of the library remained a concern – nearly a decade after its renovation had first been proposed. In addition, an audit of the college’s building renovation needs found that the condition of the dormitories was so bad that it might be more cost-effective to build new ones.

It was time to consider a new look at solving lingering concerns about finances. Among the proposals discussed was a possible move of Peru’s entire campus to Nebraska City.

The idea of relocation had been heightened by the popularity of Peru’s new technology center in Nebraska City: Almost 1,000 people had taken classes or attended seminars and workshops at the center in its first year.

Jaci Pingel (left) of Fort Dodge, Iowa, and Darrin Jones of Sloan, Iowa, performed lab work at Hoyt Science Building in 1997.

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State College System executive director Carrol Krause said that while the state college board would continue to investigate its options, including a new location for the campus, it would not discuss closing the school.

President Robert Burns said the relocation proposal was an offshoot of the thorough planning job the college had undertaken. The board and college leaders were examining the college’s needs, the area’s demographics, the enrollment trends, personnel-recruiting trends and the facilities audit, he said.

“I think there will be discussion of all kinds of options,” he said.

Kent Propst, director of advancement at the time, said that while the proposed move to Nebraska City drew some strong opposition, the idea wasn’t that far-fetched.

“The carrot at the end of the stick was we’d get newer facilities in a larger community,” Propst said. “It was very difficult to just reject that out of hand.”

History professor Sara Crook pointed out another issue that factored into the review of the school: Peru’s remoteness.

“We had trouble attracting faculty,” she said, “And we had trouble attracting diversity.”

Opposing voices came from some Peru State alumni and the town’s citizens. But even amid the disagreements that would arise, there remained a common goal: preserving the school.

Dan Holtz, who had been teaching English at Peru for about 10 years at the time, recalled the atmosphere on the hilltop.

“Among the faculty, the mood was kind of split,” he said. “I think there were definitely faculty ... who saw it as an actual advantage if we could move into Nebraska City. (But) faculty that had been there a long time were resistant to move because they owned houses in town.”

Propst said that in spite of any disagreement, the campus remained united in its mission.

“The staff was divided, but when it came time for class to start, they went to work,” he said.

“The faculty put aside their personal rancor, got busy and taught their classes. They didn’t let (their classes) become part of the sideshow.”

“The faculty is a pretty special group,” Propst said.

Science professor Daryl Long said the move didn’t matter much to him at the time: “I’d just go to wherever the college went.”

But he pointed out one important matter regarding a possible relocation to Nebraska City.

“The thing that went against it, from my point of view, is that you were moving the campus closer to UNL and Lincoln,” he said.

Long thought that Peru’s location provided better access to more students in rural southeast Nebraska.

“If you really want to service the people, you need to put it more outstate,” he said.

In addition, Propst said Nebraska City’s closer proximity to Omaha and Lincoln might have worked against the proposal by creating fears that the school might draw students away from UNL and UNO.

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ACHIEVEMENT IN HUMANITIES The Nebraska Humanities Council in 1994 presented 1927 Peru graduate Marion Marsh Brown with the Sower Award, recognizing a “lifelong, continuing career of promoting public understanding of the humanities in the state.’’ She wrote 20 books, ranging from biographies to history to fiction.

Brown was an assistant professor of English from 1935 to 1937 at Peru.

She later was a professor of English at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, retiring in 1967. She continued to write until she was 90, finally calling it quits when her health no longer allowed it.

One incentive to keep writing, Brown said, was the “response I’ve had from my readers.

They seem to have gotten out of my work what I wanted them to get.”

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

As if the issue wasn’t complicated enough with Peru and Nebraska City vying for the campus, a third player eventually entered the fray: Beatrice also submitted proposals to the State College Board of Trustees to become the new home for Peru State College.

After listening to presentations by economic development officials and city leaders from Nebraska City, Beatrice and Peru, the trustees voted unanimously in January 1998 to seek the Legislature’s approval for $16 million in state money to build a new Peru State College campus on 112 acres of farmland at the western edge of Nebraska City.

The promise of brand-new dormitories, a new student center and field house, new classrooms, a library, ball fields, ponds and waterfalls – and $8 million – had been enough to sell the board on the move.

JOAN A. CHRISTEN Class of 1996 At age 38, with no prior college experience, Christen headed off to Peru State to become a teacher.

She taught high school science at Stella Southeast Consolidated and Beatrice and has won the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, the Christa McAuliffe Prize and other awards.

“We had to deal with a lot of emotional issues that we were able to set aside and take a good hard look at college education in southeast Nebraska,” Board Chairman Rick Kolkman of North Platte said after the meeting in Lincoln. “The decision we came down with is one that the entire board firmly believes will benefit Peru State College and southeast Nebraska.”

In the midst of this turbulent time, controversy arose over remarks by a Peru State College vice president that had been considered offensive. Faculty members announced plans to file a formal complaint with the college administration, and the Nebraska State Education Association voted to recommend that Burns discipline the vice president.

The incident received widespread attention, and State Senator Floyd Vrtiska feared the ramifications. “I don’t want the college to close, but we need to deal with the issue for what it is.”

Bill Clemente, who was to receive the school’s 1998 teaching excellence award, would not sit on stage during commencement to protest the handling of the episode and sat with faculty members instead.

In the end, Burns announced to the faculty that he and the vice president would be leaving their positions. Richard Flynn, dean of education at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, was named interim president.

AT H L E T I C H A L L O F FA M E : S O F T B A L L , 1 9 9 6 The team was the first to play in the NAIA national tournament. Coach Mark Mathews led the Bobcats to a 42-23 record, breaking the school record for victories. They got off to a slow start because of bad weather in the spring but at one point ran off 22 wins in 26 games. The team set and still holds single-season school records for triples, assists, faced batters, complete games, games and wins. In addition, two Bobcat players were honored as NAIA scholar athletes.

WITH THE STATE DEBATING the best use of its money during the 1990s, Peru State College had become a bit of a political football. But that might have turned out to be a good thing in 1998: The state was in the middle of an election year that would select a new governor in Lincoln.

While Governor Ben Nelson had taken a wait-and-see approach to the proposal to move the campus to Nebraska City, the two men running to replace him were squarely in Peru’s camp.

In June 1998, Republican candidate Mike Johanns and Democrat Bill Hoppner were on hand for a rally in downtown Peru to lend support before a hearing of the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education.

“Here we are on the campus of the oldest teaching college west of the Mississippi River,” Hoppner said, then added to encourage the crowd, “and it’s going to get a hell of a lot older.”

Johanns told the audience that in his travels across Nebraska, he was constantly pulled aside

by Peru State graduates who expressed their support for keeping the school open and in the same spot. “It’s worth asking those running for public office where they stand and expect a straight answer,” Johanns said. “As for me, I support Peru in Peru.”

The coordinating commission public hearing later that day included both Peru supporters and those wanting to explore alternatives.

Many said they backed the college because it offered a small-school alternative to students who felt intimidated by larger colleges and universities.

John George, a Nemaha County commissioner at the time, told how his stepson had gone to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, got caught up in extracurricular college life and saw his grades falter. After transferring to Peru and getting more personal attention, George said, his stepson’s grades improved enough to allow him to return to UNL, where he eventually graduated with honors.

“He just needed some extra help getting adjusted,” George said.

Richard Flynn 1998-1999 Flynn had been a dean at the University of Nebraska at Omaha when he was appointed to serve as interim president at Peru State, replacing Robert Burns. Flynn received a bachelor’s degree from MacMurray College, a master’s from Ohio University and a doctorate from Columbia University in New York. He joined UNO in 1969 and had been dean of the College of Education for 12 years. Flynn left Peru to become president of Springfield College in Massachusetts, saying, “I will continue to follow the Peru story after my departure and know I can count on hearing great things.“ He served at Springfield College until his retirement in 2013, overseeing the construction of six new facilities and a major sports complex.

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“Don’t think for a minute that your numbers don’t make any difference. You have already made an important point.”

— Lobbyist Paul O’Hara, reacting to the overwhelming number of Peru State alumni who went to the State Capitol to support their school

Others bragged about the beautiful campus.

“The natural beauty of this campus is something money can’t buy,” said John Gibbs, Peru State men’s basketball coach.

Other supporters argued for leaving the college in Peru on the basis of economics.

Corky Jones, another Nemaha County commissioner, said closing or moving the college probably would mean economic problems for an area that was primed for growth.

“If we lose Peru State in any shape or form,” Jones said, “it could be an irrecoverable shock to Peru, Nemaha County and ultimately southeast Nebraska.”

Bob Engles of Auburn said Peru residents and other supporters were partly at fault for allowing Peru State’s future to come down to a commission report.

“We residents have been guilty for many years of being complacent about the jewel in our backyard,” Engles said.

“You let us keep our college, we promise to A hint of fall shows in the trees in the Quad.

Peru Greenhouse Gets a Lift Peru State College decided its longtime greenhouse would no longer be needed after plans for a more modern one were included in a $4 million expansion at Hoyt Science Building.

The structure was put up for sale, and the winning bidders wanted it moved nine blocks. How do you do that?

No problem. More than 50 volunteers grabbed hold of the 24-by-52-foot, 1,800-pound aluminum greenhouse frame and lugged it to a spot on the north end of the Peru business district.

Organizing the move were (from left) retired business professor Bob Lewellen, wife Barb, Peru alum Betsy Reed, and John and Bea Patterson, partners in the purchase.

“It only took one hour, 15 minutes and 22.5 seconds – plus a lot of moaning and groaning,” John Patterson said.

never take our school for granted again.”

Brett Gibbs (left) and Todd and Kevin Krause of Peru look over a Peru State rally at the State Capitol.

THE STATE COLLEGE Board of Trustees voted unanimously in the fall of 1998 to keep the campus in Peru, reversing the unanimous vote about a year earlier to move the college to Nebraska City.

“We simply supported the politically and financially feasible alternative that probably is going to serve that region better,” trustee Doug Christensen of Lincoln said after the vote.

Christensen and other board members said that if the State College Board hadn’t proposed moving the college, the debate over Peru State would have had only two options: close it or fix it.

“That would have been an uphill battle,” Christensen said. “When three choices were there, it brought a whole new discussion that reinvigorated the people of southeast Nebraska and the Peru Foundation over how important that institution is, and how important it is for the entire region to be connected to it.”

Christensen had a point. A year earlier, before the proposal to move the campus to Nebraska City, a proposal to upgrade the Peru State College library had failed once more to gain traction.

But the State College Board’s decision put most of the major players in the debate on the side of keeping the college in Peru, renovating buildings, adding learning centers in the region and enhancing the college’s academic offerings.

In December 1998, the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education voted to follow suit.

The good news didn’t mean the work had ended.

A set of goals was being devised to guide improvements in the college and in the community it serves. If those “benchmarks” were not met within six years, the commission could once again consider closing Peru State.

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The proposed benchmarks included raising $2 million from alumni and supporters in the region to help pay for repairs to substandard campus buildings and increasing below-average retention and graduation rates for students.

The town of Peru also was under pressure to improve, in the form of economic development.

While it might have seemed that the school had been put on probation, some saw the conditions as an opportunity to show the level of support for the Campus of a Thousand Oaks and keep it, once and for all, on the hilltop in Peru.

“It is asking us to do an awful lot, but at the same time, I think the college is prepared to step up to the plate and deliver,” said Flynn, the interim president. “We’re in a position to control our own destiny.”

Becki Propst, president of the Peru Chamber of Commerce at the time, said the closing issue had mobilized the community.

“We’ve got some catching up to do,” said Propst, class of 1981. “People realize this is something we have to do, so they’re rolling up their sleeves.

“We have to put our money, our time and our talents to work where our mouths have been.”

Esther Divney, a retired professor and Retired Peru State professor Esther Divney showed her support for keeping the college in Peru. She backed it up by helping local businesses.

Peru City Council member, said she had noticed more cooperation. “It’s been the most beautiful change.”

Divney was a one-woman economic

development program, buying and renovating 16 run-down homes in Peru, which she then sold on land contract. “It’s the ‘Habitat for Peruvians sponsored by Divney,’ ” she said.

She also loaned money to a local cook to open a restaurant in town and helped a printing shop open. She bought an abandoned convenience store, which, hammer in hand, she helped rehabilitate into a home for small shops.

Divney and others admitted that the town of Peru had some work to do as a community, but they also extolled its quiet, small-town charms. “If you’re used to chrome, plastic and leatherette, this place isn’t for you,” she said.

Students said they liked what the school had to offer.

Keith Boehme of Davenport, Iowa, and Valerie Hippen of Beatrice said they chose Peru State because class sizes were small.

“That’s the advantage of Peru State,” said another student, Mike Buchheit of Auburn.

“You’re not lost in a class of 150 people where the teacher doesn’t know your name.”

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INTERIM PRESIDENT RICHARD FLYNN won praise from townspeople and faculty for improving morale and reestablishing Peru State’s contacts with the communities in southeast Nebraska.

Flynn met with Nebraska City leaders to ease any misunderstandings that may have arisen.

“Everyone is on the same side here,” he said.

Doug Friedli, a Nebraska City bank president, pledged that leaders in his community would help Peru State in every way possible and work to expand the satellite learning center in Nebraska City. “We feel as strongly as we did before that we need a four-year college in this area,” he said.

Through it all, funding was approved in May 1999 to renovate Hoyt Science Building and to makes plans for renovating and enlarging the college’s cramped library.

State senators again made clear that the school needed to develop a plan to boost enrollment, raise retention and graduation rates, and use campus buildings more efficiently.

The conditions attached to the construction money didn’t worry State Senator Floyd Vrtiska, who voiced confidence that the college and local communities would rise to the occasion.

Spencer Davis said that while the proposal to move the campus grabbed most of the headlines, it overshadowed other problems Peru State faced during the 1990s. “I actually thought the financial problems were more serious,” he said. “It was a bad run of years.

It wasn’t just one thing, it was the whole environment in which a serious reduction of the mission of this place was under consideration.”

But with support from the Legislature and the governor, Peru State College was ready to put the bad times in the rearview mirror.

Peru State College didn’t just survive a difficult decade in the 1990s. It had forged a new, lasting alliance in southeast Nebraska that had secured its future. In the end, the coordinated effort by area communities – and the strong voices of incredibly loyal alumni – had helped turn the tide.

Performance at the Kennedy Center Peru State English professor Dan Holtz represented Nebraska in 1999 with a performance of his “Nebraska Through Song & Story” program in the Grand Foyer of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Holtz’s performance was part of the center’s Millennium Stage daily programs ushering in the new century with performances of music, theater and dance featuring artists from across the nation. In his program, he tied together three of his favorite things: music, Nebraska history and Nebraska literature.

“You get a sense of history out of reading (Mari) Sandoz or (Willa) Cather, but a song can put a different spin on things, “ Holtz said. “The program involves trying to re-create the feeling of history, to let people know what Nebraska was like in the earlier days.”

Holtz also was given the chance for a bonus performance during the noon hour on the Capitol grounds. He said the day went “well beyond my wildest imagination.”

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Said history professor Sara Crook: “They went to the Legislature and said, ‘We have to have this in southeast Nebraska. If you take this away, you’ll lose a lot of education potential here in southeast Nebraska.’ ” Crook said that before the crisis, the school’s cause had rarely benefited from partnership among the communities, particularly Auburn and Nebraska City.

“Those two towns now are much more collaborative and much more supportive of Peru State College, because they realize it’s going to take all of southeast Nebraska to make this work,” she said. “Years later, both of them realize how important it is to have the school here.”

The resolution also had put a permanent end to one of the difficulties in recruiting to Peru.

“Who wants to go to a college that might not be there?” Crook asked.

Davis said the negativity had been especially harmful for sports.

“Competitors would say, ‘There’s no use going there because they might not have a football team next year,’ ” he said.

“I don’t hear that kind of talk any more.”

One more lasting benefit from the crisis had been what the faculty, staff and students had learned about themselves, said English professor Dan Holtz.

“We have the ability, the determination ... to do more here with less,” he said. “Because we’ve always been faced with that.”

The 1998 commencement was a tight fit for the Al Wheeler Activity Center.

The stage had been set for a new era.

“It was extraordinarily

painful and yet perhaps the best thing that could have happened to Peru State College,” Kent Propst, director of advancement at the time, said years later. “It was the catalyst for all the positive change at Peru.”

Peru State College had come to the end of a long, difficult period in which its story had been clouded by public conflicts. Outside the hilltop, the college’s successes at times had been overshadowed as its name was associated with contentious funding debates. But with its future secure, Peru could focus on a story of growth and achievement – bolstered by energized alumni and community support.

“There are opportunities that come out of bad situations,” Crook said.

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Ben Johnson and library director Peg O’Rourke display plans to renovate the old gym building.

THE ARRIVAL OF BEN JOHNSON in 1999 brought an end to the musical chairs that had been played for more than a year in the Peru State College president’s office. Robert Burns had been replaced by Richard Flynn, who left as interim president to become president of a college in Massachusetts. Leonard Skov then served as interim president until his appointment ended and steered the school finances for the 1999-00 school year. Jerome Martin, interim vice president of academic affairs, then served briefly as acting president until Johnson started.

President Johnson’s tenure got off on the right foot with the State College Board of Trustees approving $3.4 million for campus improvements that would include providing Internet for each dorm room.

Donations also were coming Peru’s way, with alumni answering the call to support their alma mater. As the May 2000 commencement approached, word was received of large gifts from Beverly Hills, California, businessman Ken Boxley and Urbandale, Iowa, car dealer Charlie Gabus.

Ben Johnson 1999-2008 Johnson had been vice president of academic affairs and dean of faculty at Thomas College in Thomasville, Georgia, before coming to Peru State. The Iowa native held a bachelor’s degree from William Tyndale College, master’s from Eastern Michigan University and a doctoral degree from the University of South Florida. Johnson also had served as director of education for graduate programs and research at Montana State University-Northern and executive director of the Education Foundation in Sarasota, Florida.

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It All Starts With Recruitment Peru State College ramped up its recruitment efforts in 2000, pitching the school at college fairs and visiting high schools in the region.

“You’ve got to want to help kids, “ recruiter Bob Lopez (right) said.

“Finding the right fit for students is our job.”

He told students at Conestoga High School in Murray to ask themselves a question when considering a college: “How much attention am I going to get?” A few heads nodded. No class at Peru State would have more than 40 students, Lopez said, and classes in their major would have around 10 students. He encouraged the students to make campus visits, saying it was the only way to really know if a college was the right one.

At Louisville High, Lopez talked to a junior about what he would like to study. “Heating and air-conditioning, “ the student said. “Or computers.” Lopez assured the student that Peru had good opportunities to study computers. “It’s one of our fastest-growing majors,” he said.

GENEROUS GIFTS Peru State College received large donations in 2000 from former students who had been at the Campus of a Thousand Oaks more than 50 years earlier.

Ken Boxley spent only a few months at Peru State as part of a U.S. Navy officer training program during World War II. He went on to found a company that printed Yellow Pages directories in Southern California.

Charlie Gabus and wife Frances had graduated from Peru State in the 1940s.

Gabus’ parents, his brother, Jack, and two aunts also attended the school.

Gabus operated one of the Midwest’s largest Ford dealerships, Charles Gabus Ford, and owned three other auto dealerships in Des Moines.

Peru State surpassed the $2 million in private donations set as a benchmark by the State Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education – even though nearly five years remained to reach the target. President Johnson felt emboldened enough to set his own new target: $26 million in donations in 10 years.

Another bright sign was the work about to begin on the first construction projects on campus in more than 20 years – expansions of Hoyt Science Building and the college’s maintenance building.

Johnson said the donations and the construction had boosted spirits on the campus and were paving the way to a new view from the hilltop: the future. “People are amazed at the change on this campus,” Johnson said at the groundbreaking for the science building addition.

“A few people had tears in their eyes.”

The Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education in September 2000 expressed its pleasure with Peru’s progress in meeting the benchmarks for improvement it had laid out.

On-campus enrollment was projected at about 1,000 – up about 8 percent from the previous year, and the school projected that about 1,000 more students would be taking courses at satellite classrooms in Falls City, Beatrice and other communities.

Stan Carpenter, chancellor of the Nebraska State College System, recalled watching Peru rebound when he took the position of the system’s executive director in 2000. He knew the battle wasn’t over at the time, in spite of the successes. “Even though they had come out with support from the coordinating commission, it was an institution that was fragile psychologically and emotionally and felt threatened,” he recalled.

But Carpenter also saw Peru State’s potential in its location, with short drives to Omaha, Lincoln and Kansas City.

“I just felt like it was positioned in a great place geographically to attract students,” he said.

“I thought it was poised to become much stronger.”

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PRESIDENT JOHNSON PUSHED AHEAD by taking aim at other benchmarks, including the school’s retention rate: 55 percent of the students remained after their first year. He sought to increase that by 3 percent in each of the next five years by offering more tutoring, advising and other programs to help students make better choices.

The school also advanced yet another initiative that would enhance its reputation for innovation in education: online classes.

Business professor Judy Grotrian recalled the early days of web-based education.

“We were trying to make the courses relevant, yet challenging,” she said.

Among the challenges was the goal of 8-week, rather than 16-week, semesters.

That required students to pack the same amount of course work into a shorter period of time.

“My philosophy was that you’re not driving to campus and you’re not sitting in classes, so you can utilize that time,” Grotrian said.

Technology wasn’t as cooperative then as it is today.

“Everything had to be typewritten, because we didn’t have YouTube and the emerging technology we have now,” Grotrian said.

In addition, she said, students mostly had dial-up connections, rather than high speed.

“You could sit there for quite a while just waiting to get connected.”

And when it came time for presentations in her Business 201 class, students had to mail VHS tapes.

But none of the difficulties would prove too big to keep online education from expanding quickly.

In early 2001, the coordinating commission approved Peru State’s plans to open a branch in a downtown Lincoln building that also had a branch of Southeast Community College.

The goal was to allow the community college students to earn a four-year degree by transferring credits to Peru State.

Permanent Home for Schoolhouse A former Nemaha County landmark – the Little Red Schoolhouse – was rebuilt on the Peru State College campus, brick by brick, in 2001. College supporters and graduates and friends of the old Center School raised $42,000 to save, transport and restore the schoolhouse when it was doomed to be razed for a highway widening project.

The landmark, constructed in 1905, sat on the east side of U.S. Highway 75 between Auburn and Nebraska City, a mile north of the junction with Highway 67. Its bricks were made in a long-defunct brick factory in Peru.

Peru President Ben Johnson said the schoolhouse, which closed in 1960, “will stand as a tribute to schoolmarms – not only those who taught in it, but to all teachers in one-room schoolhouses, once so prevalent in rural America.“ PART IV | 201

CAMPUS FIXTURE A bigger-than-life bronze statue of a bobcat, the Peru State mascot, took its place on campus in 2001.

Tom Palmerton, a widely known Nebraska artist, worked on the bobcat at a studio in nearby Brownville.

“I was handy, so they commissioned me to create the bobcat,” he said.

MEMORIES BRANDI LAMBERT Class of 2001 “I was a senior education student and doing well in my classes. I had never skipped a class in my four years of college.

“My friends knew this and made quite a bit of fun of me.

They dared me to try it. One day in the spring semester, I decided to get brave. I slept in instead of attending my 8 o’clock class.

“My education professor called my dorm room around 8:15 that morning to make sure I was feeling well and wondering why I wasn’t in class.

I ended up going to class.

Peru already had branches at Southeast Community College’s Lincoln campus, as well as campuses in Milford and Beatrice. Johnson said expanding course offerings beyond Peru’s campus was one of the school’s means of reaching the benchmarks that had been set out by the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education.

In perhaps the strongest sign yet of Peru’s rebounding fortunes, the Nebraska Legislature approved funds in July 2001 to ensure new life and new roles for two of the college’s oldest buildings.

The old gymnasium, originally designed as a chapel with its castle-like ramparts, was to be transformed into a modern library, with a small eatery and a fireplace to add to the homey atmosphere. And after more than 20 years of proposals and discussion, the school moved forward with a plan to upgrade the old library, designating it for use as a resource center for students.

The two renovated buildings, each almost a century old, would be connected by a glass-enclosed walkway, complete with seating and study alcoves.

“It’s exciting,” Johnson said. “We are well on our way to making some of the oldest buildings on our Campus of a Thousand Oaks the newest and most practical for today’s and tomorrow’s educational challenges.”

There was no doubt about it. He was off to a fast start as Peru State College president.

“He came in here with a great deal of energy,” said English professor Dan Holtz.

“I do think in some ways he was visionary, and he was a miracle worker.”

“I was annoyed at the time, but I now understand it’s just part of the Peru State experience.

I wasn’t just another student in his class.

He truly cared about my well being.”

The work on the inside of the Library was nearing completion in the spring of 2003.

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Strengthening Ties to Southeast Nebraska Peru State College took stock of its value to southeast Nebraska in 2003 with completion of campus renovation projects totaling $19.5 million in the previous five years. The school’s impact regionally also was felt in its expanded off-campus course offerings in Beatrice, Nebraska City, Falls City, LaVista, Lincoln and at Offutt Air Force Base.

State officials praised the school, saying it was becoming even more valuable to southeast Nebraska. “The evidence so far suggests that Peru State is a cost-effective and reasonable solution to higher education needs in southeast Nebraska, “ said David Powers, executive director of the State Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education.

Richard Halbert of Falls City, a member of the State College Board of Trustees, noted that the number of transfer students from other colleges made Peru State’s graduating classes larger than its freshman classes. “It’s a compliment that they select Peru State to finish their education,“ he said.

Sarah Ball, from Auburn, was happy to be able to use Peru’s gleaming new Library to do research for an article she was writing for a children’s publication. “If this wasn’t here, I would have to go to Lincoln or Omaha to find a comparable library, “ said Ball, whose home was 12 miles from Peru, 70 from Lincoln and 75 from Omaha.

Matt Schlimme, from Humboldt, moved and arranged books to help out and earn money for another year of school. “At the beginning of last semester I was thinking about transferring, “ said Schlimme, “but seeing the new improvements is enough to keep me around.”

Klint Kobza of Lincoln boxes up books to move to the new library in 2003.

Peru State President Ben Johnson called the improvements dramatic. “We’re becoming a cultural and educational center for southeast Nebraska,” he said.

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Another economic downturn put Peru State College back in state budget cross hairs in 2002, but solid support for the school and momentum building on campus prevented a repeat of past crises.

FOUNDATION’S ROLE GROWS The Peru State College Foundation stepped up its role in supporting the school after the school’s difficulties in the 1990s. It had grown to five employees and assets nearing $10 million in 2003, from no employees and $3 million in 1999.

Stan Carpenter, chancellor of the Nebraska State College System, came to the school’s defense in a letter to the Omaha World-Herald: “Each time Peru State College is mentioned as a budget sacrifice, student recruitment, college fundraising and employee morale take a huge hit. Yet the Campus of a Thousand Oaks continues to prevail and serve more than 1,700 students – more than in most private colleges in Nebraska. Peru State is just the kind of business Nebraska continually competes to bring into the state by offering tax incentives.

“All three of the Nebraska state colleges – Chadron, Peru and Wayne – are economic engines in their communities, their regions and the state. They offer stable, good-paying jobs.

They are environmentally friendly and sound businesses that provide high-quality education at an affordable cost. Annually, they bring federal dollars and out-of-state money to Nebraska.

Above all, they infuse educated, well-trained graduates into society – the majority of whom (nearly 70 percent) live and work in Nebraska.”

The new Library opened in the spring of 2003, just in time for end-of-semester projects and studying for finals.

“A library is the heart and soul of every college campus,” Johnson said. “This one is about as good as it gets.” The building had opened nearly a century earlier as the chapel and later had been used as a gymnasium with a swimming pool in the basement. It also has served as the school’s “Swiss Army knife,” at times housing the art department, physical education classrooms and labs, the carpenter shop, instructional services and campus security.

The building’s interior received an Don von Rentzell restacked books in the Library.

entirely new look, including loft ceilings and natural light from the large southfacing windows. The new space nearly

doubled that of the old library. In addition, the building was wired for students’ technological needs and also met accessibility specifications of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The exterior of the building, including its trademark castle-like turrets, remained essentially unchanged. The exception was an enclosed walkway connecting it to the former library, which was being converted into what would be called the Academic Resource Center.

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Lewis and Clark Bicentennial As part of the bicentennial celebration of the Lewis and Clark expedition, history professor Stephen Sylvester (above, holding hat) helped lead a 12-day field trip in 2003 that offered graduate credit for the “Corps of Re-Covery.”

The excursion stressed the gap between the records left by the explorers’ 1804-06 Corps of Discovery and the experiences known only to those who blazed the trail with Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.

The explorers’ journals didn’t provide a full picture, Sylvester said, because they were meant to focus on the land, plants and animals.

It may appear that the two never argued, he said, but “you wouldn’t expect military commanders to record all their petty differences.” After the irritations and discomforts of the 12-day campout, Sylvester said, “imagine being on the river for a year.”

The bus tour began and ended in Nebraska City and included a stop at a known Lewis and Clark campsite near Brownville.

The group traveled as far west as Great Falls, Montana.

Peru State senior business major Elizabeth Olsen said that before the class, she knew little about Lewis and Clark despite growing up in Bloomfield, just 30 miles from the Missouri River.

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PERU STATE COLLEGE ENROLLED the largest freshman class of its 137-year history in the fall of 2004. Although the numbers were elevated by big gains in students taking classes online, the school also saw a 9 percent increase in students on campus. Total on-campus enrollment at Peru stood at 1,106, compared with 1,012 at the same time in 2003.

New freshmen at the campus numbered 439, compared with 372 the previous year.

President Johnson pointed out that Peru was succeeding by making it possible for working people to take classes. All on-campus courses were either Monday-Wednesday or TuesdayThursday, meaning on-campus students could get a degree without ever going to class on Friday.

“We changed so that our students can take a full load of two-day classes,” Johnson said.

“It has allowed a lot more people to come to college who have to work.”

The two-days-a-week class strategy caught on quickly. Applications for on-campus classes jumped about 50 percent for the 2004-05 school year after the college dropped its traditional Monday-Wednesday-Friday classes.

Students also were opting for the speedy eight-week courses that required attendance on campus only once a week for a three-hour class, either on Fridays or during evenings.

Of the 1,100 students taking classes on campus, about 70 percent were adults holding jobs.

In addition, the number of students taking advantage of online classes jumped that fall to 804 from the previous year’s 344. Peru State’s number of online-only students rose from 137 to 224.

Accessibility was enhanced further by courses offered at six locations away from the campus in Peru.

Yet another new initiative reached out to rural students in southeast Nebraska who might not otherwise consider going to college.

The entire junior classes at Prague, Rising City and Shickley High Schools – a total of nearly 50 juniors at the three schools combined – were offered free four-year tuition at Peru, a gift worth about $15,000 per student.

Honoring Floyd Vrtiska The addition to the Hoyt Science Building was named in honor of Floyd and Doris Vrtiska in 2005. As state senator, Floyd Vrtiska had been a tireless supporter of Peru State. He was instrumental in setting the school on a new path after financial troubles in the 1990s and secured funding for vital campus construction. The work at Hoyt included the first additional classroom space at Peru State in 35 years.

Vrtiska decided to step down from the Legislature in 2004 after serving three terms and joined the State College Board of Trustees. “My goal, while on the board, is to continue to see more young people attend the three colleges to get an affordable, quality education,” Vrtiska said at the time of his appointment. He served on the board until 2011.

Peru State received an Affiliate Excellence Award from the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum.

To qualify, the students needed only participate in an 18-month preparation program for college, organized by Peru State. The high school juniors were treated as if they were already part of the college community – with college email addresses, access to facilities, online library resources and tickets to Peru State events.

The idea to “adopt” a high school, as Peru State called it, came from President Johnson.

He said rural schools and communities had limited resources to help young people prepare for college.

“We see this as a test program,” Johnson said. “We are going to follow these students and do a lot of assessments.”

Peru also was getting a boost from a new $100,000 marketing effort by the Nebraska State College System.

“We’re one of the best-hidden secrets in Nebraska, and we cover the entire state,” said Sheri Irwin, director of public relations for the Nebraska State College System.

Peru’s pride in its Campus of a Thousand Oaks was enhanced with its inclusion in the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum in the spring of 2005. “We are thrilled to be a member of the Statewide Arboretum and are proud to have some of the most unique tree specimens in the region right here at Peru State,” said Linda Jacobsen, vice president of finance and administration.

The campus boasted several unusual trees, including Amur cork, a rare bur-chinkapin oak hybrid and a Norway spruce. And, of course, many other varieties of oak. “It is great to see a college landscape that ties so beautifully into its natural setting,” said Justin Evertson of the Statewide Arboretum.

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PERU JOINS STATEWIDE ARBORETUM Peru State College’s Campus of a Thousand Oaks celebrated its inclusion in the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum in 2005 with a picnic and ceremony.

The Statewide Arboretum promotes appreciation of beautiful, natural landscaping, especially highlighting native plants. The group also pointed to the varied and unusual trees on campus.

Peru in 2009 was saluted for its efforts in the previous decade, when it planted hundreds of new trees and shrubs on campus, including an oak grove with 37 species.

MEMORIES NATE LYGRISSE

Class of 2007 “I came to Peru from Red Cloud and basically walked on to the football team, as they did not have many recruits (zero) for managers.

“Being an honor roll student with a single dad of modest means, I got the most out of scholarships and grants, so I didn’t owe any money for this experience.

“I really enjoyed campus life and as the football manager and a tutor (at the Academic Resource Center), I did get to give back to the Bobcat community. It wasn’t hard to be popular, and I savored those blessed years of prolonged adolescence.”

PERU WAS BASKING in the glow of its recent successes by the end of 2005.

“Financial pinches, administrative missteps, infrastructure maintenance headaches, inadequate long-range planning – such worries can trip up organizations from hospitals to community non-profits, from libraries to local governments,” The Omaha World-Herald noted in singling out Peru for praise. “The course of events at the college offers a lesson for any Nebraska institution about how skilled leadership can help an organization weather a storm and emerge with new confidence.”

The praise for Peru’s rebound from the difficult 1990s mentioned: • Construction work totaling about $27 million since 1999 had addressed key building

needs.

• The Peru State College Foundation had hired an experienced fund-raiser, and successful

alumni from around the country had agreed to serve on the board. Increased giving had allowed the foundation to provide the school with more than $250,000 each year.

• New projects had communicated a sense of high standards to faculty and students.

The Academic Resource Center was providing mentoring and other help to struggling students – and additional challenges to high-achievers.

• Ambitious new programs had increased the school’s mission and reach. Among the

innovations were the free tuition to several high schools in southeast Nebraska, PSC students’ involvement in developing business plans for towns in the area and “honor chairs” that rewarded instructors for outstanding work.

Peru sought to further extend its reach in 2006 with a new online program for a master’s degree in organizational management.

Three types of students were targeted, said Todd Drew, dean of professional studies. The first was those employed by successful, medium-sized companies that needed new ideas and innovation to remain competitive, he said. The program also might draw students who were accomplished in their education and careers, but wanted to start their own businesses.

Others might be interested in getting the master’s degree in order to teach or to become consultants.

Peru State continued its outreach into southeast Nebraska, showing that the college benefited even those who didn’t attend. Students from area schools taking part in educational fairs received Peru State library cards.

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Art professor Ken Anderson’s windmill sculpture titled “House, Wind, and Water” won a statewide arts and tourism project.

REMEMBERING AL WHEELER Renovation of the Al Wheeler Activity Center was completed in 2008. The work included razing what had been the A.D. Majors residence hall to make way for a parking lot.

Peru State in 2008 hosted its annual High School Show Choir Festival, which began in 1971.

School competitions hosted on campus reinforced Peru’s value to its surrounding communities.

“It’s cultural, it’s an opportunity to meet kids from other places, an opportunity to compete,” said English professor Dan Holtz of the competitions. “It’s an opportunity they wouldn’t get if Peru State wasn’t here.”

And the spirit of cooperation in southeast Nebraska – an outgrowth of the effort to help Peru State in the 1990s – continued to strengthen.

Business and community leaders from Cass, Otoe, Nemaha, Johnson, Pawnee and Richardson Counties gathered in Nebraska City for an economic summit in 2007. Representatives agreed that it was time to take a team approach to addressing the economic struggles of their communities.

Auburn Mayor Bob Engles said successful retail and manufacturing businesses could help southeast Nebraska to reverse its declining population trends. Engles said business leaders in the region needed to do a better job of spreading the word that good jobs existed at a number of major employers, including Peru State.

“I think we can achieve more as a region rather than individually,” said Pat Haverty, director of the River County Economic Development Corp. in Nebraska City.

President Ben Johnson, who had overseen a doubling of student enrollment in his nine years as Peru State College president, stepped down in 2008. Johnson had been credited with overseeing development of online courses, improving technology in classrooms, offering flexible class schedules and investing $35 million in campus renovations. When he left, most of Peru State’s 2,300 students were taking an online course, and 1,000 were online-only students.

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Al Wheeler Jr., son of the Peru State coaching legend, was the keynote speaker for the rededication.

Bobcat teams had played and practiced at area high schools while the work was completed.

“The rededication of the Wheeler Center is an opportunity for us to thank our neighbors for their unwavering support of this institution and our student athletes,” said Stan Carpenter, chancellor of the Nebraska State College System and Peru’s interim president.

Lessons Learned Up Close STAN CARPENTER RELISHED the opportunity to lead Peru State College as interim president and made sure that his time was productive.

“I thought and had said this earlier to anyone who would listen: If I were going to be president of any of our (state college) schools, I wanted to be president of Peru because I thought it had the best opportunity to grow,” he said.

“It was a confirmation, but also an eye opener in many regards. I was struck by the quality of the faculty. To be there and see them work with students and interact with them really just displayed for me the high quality of faculty and staff we have there.”

Carpenter had two big items on his plate: Help find a new leader for Peru State College and figure out a way to continue to strengthen enrollment.

The presidential search committee began its work in earnest in the summer of 2008.

“We thought it was important to bring someone in who had a solid background in academics,” Carpenter said.

Members of the search committee also wanted someone who could “build bridges back to the greater community” outside campus.

Leaders of the Nebraska State College System narrowed down the candidates for president and in early 2009 selected Dan Hanson, at the time the vice president for academic affairs at Waldorf College in Forest City, Iowa.

“He really rose to the top because of his credentials, but also because of his demeanor and his calm approach to answering questions,” Carpenter said. “It was clear that he was very thoughtful. He was the right choice.”

At the same time, an idea for bolstering enrollment began to take root: Bring in more students by eliminating the higher tuition charged to students from outside Nebraska.

Stan Carpenter 2008-2009 Carpenter served at Peru while continuing in his role as chancellor of the Nebraska State College System. He came to Nebraska from a state college system in Vermont, where he had been general legal counsel. He was named executive director of the Nebraska state colleges, but the title was changed in 2005 to reflect that the three schools were no longer a loose coalition, but instead operated under one central authority. “As a system, we don’t want our colleges competing with each other in front of the Legislature, “ Carpenter said at the time. He has been a tireless advocate of affordable, high-quality education and efforts to reach non-traditional students.

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Carpenter related how Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman had said to him: “Stan, why do you have out-of-state tuition? I drive across the border and buy gas in Iowa or Colorado, and it’s the same price. Why are we charging people differently?”

Wheels began to turn, and the proposal gained traction.

While Carpenter had no shortage of matters to address during his time as interim president, his appreciation for Peru State College continued to grow.

“Peru has a very diverse student body, and by that I mean students who are exceptionally prepared to go to college, students who are making it, and students who are struggling and need a lot of help. But one of the constants that I saw there was that they really loved the institution,” he said.

“They felt respected by the faculty and the staff.

And in some of those cases where they weren’t as prepared as others, they felt they had a chance.”

Peru staff, students and alumni felt Carpenter’s time as interim president was

“Students can come there, they can succeed, they can be involved,” Carpenter said of Peru.

especially valuable to the school.

“The best thing that happened was when Stan Carpenter was the interim president,” said Arlene Fell, co-president of the Peru State National Alumni Association. “He saw the campus in action.”

Carpenter handed over the reins to the next president in 2009, pleased with the experience of serving as Peru State’s leader. “The one graduation I got to preside over was just wonderful,” he said. “That was really a special moment for me.”

Carpenter had seen the importance of students realizing that they had the opportunity to achieve their dreams at Peru State College.

“If they were willing to work at it, they could make it,” he said. “They knew that if they put in the effort, the faculty and the staff would match that effort, or go beyond it, to give them every chance to succeed.”

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PART V

PERU TODAY

bridging past and future

“As we look over the hills of Peru today, let’s be as bold and visionary as our founders, looking to the future with confidence in the capacity of Americans to achieve a better world.

The efforts of these early settlers and the diligent work of the generations of faculty and staff since have had an immeasurable impact on Nebraska, the United States and the world.”

— Peru State College President Dan Hanson

Engaging a Campus THROUGHOUT ITS HISTORY, Peru State College has been a home for inspirational teachers igniting the minds of active students. The school has been a launching pad for great careers. And it has been a beacon to those beyond the hilltop, a place to come for enrichment, enjoyment and help in solving community needs.

Peru State President Dan Hanson arrived in 2009 with a vision to embrace that legacy.

He liked what he saw when he and his wife, Elaine, first toured the Campus of a Thousand Oaks.

“We were struck by its beauty,” he said. “It was an attractive, historic campus.”

“It was the middle of winter, and I was just impressed with the beauty of the hills and the beautiful buildings,” Elaine Hanson said.

“If you’re going to make a difference in the world, Peru State College is the place to do it.”

— Peru President Dan Hanson

Hanson also liked what he saw beneath the surface.

“Beyond that, we liked that you received a personalized small-college education at a price that didn’t put people into great debt,” he said. “It felt like a really important mission at an important time for this small school in southeast Nebraska. So we loved the mission, and we loved the support from the state that made this school affordable for all kinds of students.”

Stan Carpenter, chancellor of the State College System, had seen Peru State’s potential as well during his time as the school’s interim president before Hanson arrived.

“It confirmed for me that the faculty and staff of Peru cared deeply about the students they served,” Carpenter said. “It confirmed for me that they took any extra steps necessary to make sure students had a chance to succeed, to graduate.

“It opened my eyes about the impact of that institution on southeast Nebraska,” he said.

“Economically, but also culturally, and just the sense that ... southeast Nebraska matters, because we have Peru State College here.”

Hanson set a goal: “Re-energize and build on the on-campus experience.” It was a theme he had encountered during his interview for the president’s position and in discussions afterward.

Dan Hanson President, 2009-present Hanson came to Peru State after working more than 30 years at Waldorf College in Forest City, Iowa.

He served at Waldorf as vice president of academic affairs and dean of the college, assistant director of admissions, associate professor in the division of social science, chairman of the management information systems department and director of academic computing. He holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Waldorf, a master’s in computer science from Mankato State University (now Minnesota State), and a doctorate in instructional technology from Iowa State University.

He established early in his tenure that he believed in teamwork in moving Peru forward.

“This will be a college working together to resolve its challenges,” he said.

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The T.J. Majors Building celebrated the 100th anniversary of its opening in 2017.

Hanson found a “clear desire” for a vibrant campus. “It needed to have more students on it, needed to be active,” he said. “We don’t want to bring them here and not have a full, engaged college experience.”

Ambitious goals require a strong foundation.

First Lady Elaine Hanson knew from the moment she arrived on campus that the students and staff would provide the foundation. Students were full of questions when they turned out to meet the couple.

“You could tell that they were proud of their college,” she said. “The other impression I had was that the faculty cared. The staff and faculty cared about their students, and that’s what really drew us.”

The pieces were in place to create a “full, engaged college experience.”

The tools included

“There was a lot of pride, not only in the faculty and staff, but in the community.

People that we met around Auburn, Nebraska City, Falls City ... you could see how the school was very important to them.”

— First Lady Elaine Hanson describing her first visit to Peru

small class sizes, close student-faculty connections, strategic use of technology and community service.

The mission would be designed to yield a personalized education that maximized students’ chances for

Dan Hanson’s inauguration was eventful for more than one reason. Elaine Hanson introduced daughter Abby to Shane Mathis (on left), Peru student vice president, at the event. Shane and Abby were married May 29, 2011, the Hansons’ anniversary. The Hansons’ daughter Heather and husband Armando Alaniz are on the right.

success.

Hanson’s teaching and administrative experience at Waldorf College, along with doctoral studies at Iowa State University and participation in the Harvard Leadership Academy, had exposed him to ideas he could put to work.

Schools were beginning to move away from the idea that students were on their own to succeed in college, he said, and toward “arranging the institution’s resources for student success.”

“There’s a whole change in higher ed to focusing on the institution’s responsibility to position students to find ways to engage,” Hanson said. “That helps with motivation and connection to the college, and that helps with retention and persistence to graduation.

“When we started working on the strategic plan here, that just kind of guided the whole process,” he said. “That’s why the title is ‘essential engagement’ for the strategic plan.”

Carpenter said engagement is an excellent focus for Peru State College.

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Dan Hanson was inaugurated as Peru State College president in March 2010. “This inauguration is about much more than one individual,” said Hanson, who had been on campus since the previous August. “I want to personally invite all of those in our surrounding communities to join our students, faculty and staff in celebrating the history, strength and future of Peru State College and what it means to southeast Nebraska.”

“It’s good teaching, it’s good learning and it’s good for the community,” he said. “And I think that it will attract students. A lot of students today are idealistic, and they want to give back, and they want to be engaged. This is a model that will resonate with a lot of people.”

Hanson was eager to work with the campus community at Peru State College, an affordable school with open access to all high school graduates. He believed that students from lowincome families with parents who might not have attended college would benefit especially from engagement techniques.

“They improve graduation rates for everybody, but they improve at an even greater level for students who have ... fewer opportunities before college,” he said.

He emphasized that Peru also would be a landing spot for high achievers, as it always has been.

“If you’re going to do grad school, you really should go to a school where you don’t build up $60,000 in debt,” he said. “A place like Peru, which has great accreditation and a great track record, is a good place to go.”

Hanson and his administration plotted a course toward the school’s 150th anniversary in 2017 that would build enrollment and create an active approach to learning in a culture that would promote inquiry, discovery and innovation.

The emphasis on “essential engagement” was designed to showcase all that Peru State College offers: a small school, open to all, willing to look beyond its oak-covered campus to a world in need of a new generation of leaders.

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An Affordable Advantage THE FIRST STEP TOWARD building an active, vibrant campus was increasing the number of students. Beginning in the 2009-10 school year, Peru State College eliminated out-ofstate tuition, becoming the first public college or university in Nebraska to do so.

Peru was once again proving itself as a leader in education, this time countering the traditional view that the state’s residents should get a better deal than those from out of state.

“This is on the cutting edge,” said Stan Carpenter, chancellor of the Nebraska State College System, in announcing the proposal. The goal, he said, was to turn teenagers from surrounding states into permanent Nebraskans.

Supporting the move were studies showing that college graduates tended to settle in the state where they went to school. In addition, Carpenter pointed out that a legislative task force had urged Nebraska’s public colleges and universities to lure more out-of-state students.

“If we bring students in, they stay, they become taxpayers,” he said in explaining the idea.

“They help the state of Nebraska in the long run.”

“Cost is definitely at the forefront when we visit with prospective students and their families.

Questions about aid programs, deadlines, priority dates – those come up earlier and more often in conversations.”

— Michaela Willis, former vice president for enrollment management and student affairs

The plan received strong support in the Legislature from State Senator Lavon Heidemann of Elk Creek, who represented the Peru area. “It’s a great opportunity,” Heidemann said.

The school’s 2,327 online and on-campus students during the previous school year had included 482 from outside Nebraska, or about one in five.

The tuition change had an immediate impact. In fact, the college had to trim the number of single rooms available to accommodate heavy demand. The number of students living in dorms rose by more than 10 percent in the fall of 2009. The school ended up setting an enrollment record for the 2009-10 school year with a total of 2,502 students, including 900 full-time, on-campus students.

The impact of ending out-of-state tuition charges continued into the next school year.

The fall 2010 freshman class of 249 was the largest since the 1960s. Peru State attracted 62 freshmen from out of state, an 80 percent increase from the last school year in which non-Nebraskans had paid a higher tuition rate than state residents.

Officials emphasized that the college was not losing money on the program – the additional revenue brought in by the higher volume of students was making up for the lower rate paid.

“It’s more revenue than we would have generated otherwise,” Carpenter said. “Peru has experienced some pretty significant enrollment growth.”

With residence halls filling, the State College Board of Trustees approved plans to add 35 rooms to Eliza Morgan Hall. “This kind of problem is good to have,” President Dan Hanson said.

Peru State College’s success with eliminating out-of-state tuition has gained notice in the education community. In 2013, the Nebraska State College System Board of Trustees approved Chadron State College’s “Eagle Rate,” which provided out-of-state students a rate of just $1 more per credit hour than what Nebraska residents are charged.

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Gaining National Notice • U.S. News & World Report ranked Peru second in the nation in value for out-of-state students.

Hanson noted that one of the side benefits of eliminating out-of-state tuition was “the potential to significantly impact rural economic development in southeast Nebraska by exposing more individuals to this region of the state. Roughly 80 percent of our graduates live and work in Nebraska following graduation.”

• The college’s graduate program was named a national “Best Buy” by geteducated.com, a consumer advocacy group that reviewed, rated and ranked online colleges on cost and credibility.

The group analyzed tuition and fees at 101 regionally accredited universities that offer 313 online master’s degrees to come up with national rankings on degrees for teachers and librarians.

Peru State’s master of science in education was ranked eighth in the survey, which recognizes high-quality, low-cost online degrees in education and library science for less than $10,000.

• Payscale.com found that at 10.8 percent, Peru State College was best in Nebraska for annual return on investment, a comparison of earning power of graduates to the cost of attending.

• Best Value Schools website ranked Peru 25th nationally among its most-affordable small colleges in 2015, writing, “For those who fear getting lost in the crowd at a bigger state school, PSC actively seeks to empower and equip every student to harness her or his unique talents and abilities in order to become a leader on campus and in the world beyond.”

• CollegeChoice.net and GreatValueColleges.net, using different methodologies, each named Peru State College the fifth most affordable online college in the nation for 2016.

• Value Colleges named the criminal justice program No. 34 nationally for best value in online education, saying, “Like any smart, small public college, Peru State is branching out into online education to fill its students’ needs, and they’re doing so with style.”

Other Ways to Keep Costs Low • No application fee.

• Free tutoring.

• $5.97 million awarded in scholarships and grants, with 87 percent of freshmen receiving financial aid.

• Opportunity to earn credit for some experiences and accomplishments outside of the normal college setting.

Prior to the change, out-of-state students were paying approximately double the tuition of in-state students. Wayne State, meanwhile, has reduced its out-of-state rate for students from 10 states in the Midwest.

Larry Green, chairman of the Peru State Foundation board, said the end of out-of-state

ENROLLMENT KEPT PACE Affordability helped Peru State grow as some other colleges and universities struggled to maintain enrollment during the Great Recession and its aftermath.

A Census Bureau survey showed that overall college enrollment rates dropped from 69 percent to 66 percent of recent high school graduates between 2008 and 2013.

Enrollment among high school graduates from the bottom 20 percent of family incomes fell by 10 percentage points during that time.

Enrollments at colleges and universities had dropped for four consecutive years through the end of 2015, according to the Hechinger Report, an online educational journal.

The decline was especially sharp at private schools.

tuition “made it more of a regional school rather than a southeast Nebraska school.”

Other states also are looking at tuition reductions for out-of-state students, Carpenter said.

“We were one of the first, if not the first, to do that at Peru State,” he said. “It’s a reflection of the creativity, the intellectual curiosity that people there have.”

Peru State has set a string of enrollment records since the elimination of out-of-state tuition, and it has continued to emphasize a quality education for an affordable price.

The Rural Health Opportunities Program, which is open to students from a rural background interested in pursuing a medical-related career, also helps with college costs. “For the duration of your stay, however long you choose it to be, you will get the full-ride scholarship,” said Dennis Welsh, chemistry professor and RHOP coordinator. The program’s graduates are guaranteed acceptance into their course of study at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Peru’s affordability helps with the more expensive medical-related studies after graduation. “(RHOP) has potentially a two-pronged economic savings,” Welsh said. “Just on the undergraduate level, you’re coming out of the program with no debt for your family at all.”

The financial benefits allow Peru to compete for top-level students, who learn that cost savings as undergraduates lower their financial burden when they get to graduate programs, Welsh said. “We have one of the lowest tuitions in the nation, and then we have an RHOP program, so the brightest students still get full-ride scholarships.”

Welsh pointed out that beyond tuition, the fees and other costs at the school are also low.

“Everything is a lower cost, just as a basic philosophy,” he said.

Peru State also has developed a partnership with Southeast Community College in Lincoln to expand the reach of affordable education. Hanson said the arrangement can help students begin the transition to college “and let them finish with a Peru State College degree.” He said the partnership also allows Peru to “get our name out” and widen the area the school reaches.

“We have a physical site on that campus (in Lincoln), and we’ll have more students who come in and later transfer to Peru State College.”

The school made history again in the spring of 2016 with a total of 2,682 graduate and undergraduate students. Most noteworthy was a 16.8 percent increase in graduate students, with credit hour production for graduate programs up 28.8 percent.

Peru offers two graduate programs, a master of science in organizational management and a master of science in education. The master of science in education was ranked as the No. 4 online program of its type in the nation for 2016.

“Great faculty and a degree that has a direct impact on promotion and salary is the perfect recipe for success,” said Greg Seay, dean of the School of Graduate Studies. “Students who attend Peru State College can trust that their time spent here will change their lives.”

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Paying for college was an especially tall task for John and Cathy Trecek of Bellevue. They were looking for a school for their triplet daughters. “We’ve tried to send each of our kids off without any debt obligation,” Cathy said. While they didn’t quite make it, they were “pretty close.” Becky (left), Debbie and Carrie Trecek graduated together in 2012.

To keep enrollment growing, the Peru State College Foundation continues to search for and discover more sources of scholarships for the school.

“That’s been a primary focus of the Peru State College Foundation since its inception,” said Todd Simpson, the Foundation’s chief executive. “At any one time, we have about a dozen initiatives we’re raising money for, but scholarships are the one thing that are always on that list.”

Green said he and other board members have benefited from the opportunities that a Peru State degree provided and want to help today’s students. “Scholarships allow doors to open to them that opened to those of us on the Foundation,” he said.

Affordability also helps Peru keep students on campus once they get there. “Financial issues are one of the biggest reasons students aren’t successful – they just can’t afford to keep paying for it,” said Tim Borchers, vice president for academic affairs.

The school’s size allows it to adapt quickly to changing needs.

For instance, a longstanding rule previously had kept students with a balance due from registering. “A lot would owe $100,” Borchers said. “So we decided if students owed $200 or less, we’d lift that hold so they could register for classes.”

After registration, the balance due would be put back on the student’s record. “We’re just trying to remove some of those little obstacles and little barriers,” he said.

Hanson said he was grateful that Nebraska lawmakers had kept the school in a strong position even during hard times.

“Because the state has kept our funding consistent, we are able to provide this wonderful, small-college education at an affordable price,” he said. “That makes a real difference for students, because the biggest barrier to students across the nation is cost.”

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“People don’t realize how expensive college really is.

It’s the books, the traveling back and forth to home, it’s trying to find a part-time job so you minimize your student loans. I say, ‘Thank the taxpayers of the great state of Nebraska for keeping tuition low.’ ” — Greg Galardi, dean of the School of Professional Studies

Pulling in the Same Direction PERU STATE COLLEGE’S FACULTY continues to inspire new generations of students, backed by administration and staff who provide the structure to ensure success.

A personalized approach rules. Peru State boasts a 1-to-20 faculty-to-student ratio, bolstered by instructors who want to be in the classroom, not huddled away in their offices.

“If you don’t want to interact with the students, if you just want to be in your ivory tower, this is not the place,” said history professor Sara Crook. That goes for the students as well, she said. “If you’re looking for a place where you can sit in the back row and pull your cap down, and never be called on, it’s not here.”

“I like that Peru is community oriented, and I love the small classes,” said Sheli Petersen, an assistant professor of art. “It gives one-on-one mentoring time and offers the students a chance to learn from each other and critique.”

The emphasis on personalized education extends to the Center for Achievement and Transition Services, which houses an array of educational services, and to the Library.

“When I was hired, they told me that engagement was important,” said Art professor Ken Anderson taught at Peru for 32 years before retiring in 2016.

Veronica Meier, director of the library.

“If they’re not engaged, they’re not going to come.”

Activities promote the library’s resources, and technology helps make the environment inviting for young minds. The efforts pay off. “We don’t have rosters, so we don’t know the students’ names when they first come in,” Meier said. “But it’s a good indicator that we do know students’ names later.”

And finally, the school’s size allows full involvement by the administration in ensuring student success.

Korinne Tande, a vice chancellor for the Nebraska State College System, got a chance to see first-hand how Peru State College can benefit students while serving as dean of students, dean of education and vice president at Peru from 2000 to 2007. “As an administrator, you don’t just get to know the people within your own program, you get to know everybody,” Tande said.

“And you get to know the whole community as well.”

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A Year-Round Welcome at the President’s House The president’s house, a fixture at Peru State College since 1921, is more than just a formal residence. First Lady Elaine Hanson recalled her first tour of campus before her husband, Dan, became president and how their student guide had never been in the home. “I thought, ‘That’s just wrong,’ “ she said.

“Every student should be in the president’s house at least once, if not two or three or four times.”

The house has become part of campus life, from the moment students first arrive. “We entertain between 1,500 and 2,000 people a year, and usually half or more are students,” Elaine Hanson said.

The Hansons’ home shines especially brightly during holidays. The president and first lady hand out treats for Peru State’s “Boo Bash” around Halloween (Bobcat mascot Trey Nelson lends a hand with Burke Hardy at right). Area children and their parents are invited to campus to participate in games and events. Events during the Christmas season include an open house and students baking cookies to deliver to retired faculty members.

“It’s really easy to entertain in,” Elaine Hanson said of the house. “And it’s a great place to entertain community people. We just like to open our home.”

Meet and Greet Visits to the president’s home help students learn that they have a team behind them working toward their success. And if students need to convince anyone that they actually had dinner with the college president and first lady, well, they can always take a picture with them (Dan and Elaine Hanson on left with international students after a meal in their home).

A STARTING POINT for new students at Peru State College is the College 101 course.

Classes are grouped by majors, while those who are undecided make up their own class.

“Students who know what they want to major in are introduced to the major and participate in activities that go along with that major,” said Kylie Atwood, an education major from Nebraska City. “The undecided students are taught by an adviser from the (Center for Achievement and Transition Services) staff and are introduced to a variety of different majors. This class is pivotal in helping students who don’t know how to narrow their interests so they can choose something.”

The class schedule emphasizes the different elements that go into student success, such as organization, listening, taking notes and writing papers. Meier was pleased to have the library involved in the process to explain to students how to find information, evaluate it and use it. “We want all of the students to have these skills after they graduate,” she said. “Whatever job or career path, they can continue The Peru State staff boasts experience and continuity. Six staff members combined for more than 220 years of service. Back row, from left: Yvonne Chandler, computer services; Alica Zook, creative dining; Peggy Groff, student intervention coordinator; and Kathy Tynon, director of business services. Front row: Malinda Edris, office assistant in the School of Professional Studies; and Connie Kearney, secretary to vice president of academic affairs.

with lifelong learning.”

College 101 is evolving to best meet students’ needs.

Kyle Ryan, professor of exercise science, said faculty and staff continue to meet to consider ways to enhance the first-year experience. “That’s one example of how the administration places importance on listening to faculty, support staff and professional staff as far as what’s work-

ing on campus and what isn’t,” he said. “We’re the ones who have that interaction with the students and see what’s actually working.”

One key in the first year is a workable class schedule, and academic advisors help students look into courses for the upcoming semester.

About 50 percent of freshman and transfer students who come to Peru State are undecided on a major and are advised to enroll in general studies courses. They then are assigned to a school counselor who meets with them one-on-one to chart the next step for their studies.

“When I am registering students, I always start with, ‘Are you still considering X for your major?’ and if they say yes, we continue with enrolling for classes,” said Brooke Earnest, an academic advisor in the School of Professional Studies. “If students say they are not sure, I ask questions about why not, what do you like to do, to try to narrow down to a major.”

Peru State College doesn’t just help students find majors, it helps them find their way.

Jesse Dorman, vice president of enrollment management and student affairs, in the fall of 2016 helped initiate an innovative program, Mapworks, that identifies students’ academic challenges and helps the school devise an individualized approach to help them succeed.

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Dorman said early targeting is essential to getting at-risk students on the path to graduation.

“In terms of retaining students and helping students be successful, the first couple weeks is really the ‘Holy Grail’ time,” he said.

“We don’t just want to get them in the door, we want to help them be successful, because we know (the college) experience is transformative,” Dorman said.

College students can struggle for any number of reasons. Some come from high schools that lacked the academic support they needed. Others don’t develop important study or life skills or perhaps need motivation.

“Maybe they just lack confidence, and they didn’t have a great high school experience,” Dorman said. “They don’t know if they’re cut out for college.”

The Mapworks program surveys incoming students and identifies risks to their achievement.

It also can track their progress and provide an alert if problems arise.

Dorman said that stage is when Peru State’s individualized approach pays off. Students who struggle early soon find themselves having conversations about their poor choices with faculty members, counselors and even other students.

He said such a conversation might sound like this: “OK, so you made a bad decision.

How does this fit with what you want to be in life? The choice you’re making now, how does that help you get to the path you want to go to?”

That sort of interaction highlights Hanson’s vision of a changing educational landscape

“We’re trying to identify and support students who may be struggling early in their college career.”

— Jesse Dorman, vice president of enrollment management and student affairs

in which college students are no longer on their own to succeed.

“It’s a lot harder if students have to create those connections and find those entry points on their own,” Dorman said. “When there’s a person, especially a student leader who has personally invested in them, who has taken the opportunity to get to know them, it makes a huge difference in helping them be successful.”

And that is why early interaction is so important.

“More than just the educational experience, it transforms lives, it changes students who are maybe going down one direction and suddenly challenges them to be more,” he said.

Students building computers under the direction of Brad Griffin (center), instructor of Computer and Management Information Systems.

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IN THE CLASSROOM, Peru State College students can build on close relationships with their instructors.

Stan Carpenter, chancellor of the State College System, said students benefit from the hands-on approach of the faculty. “It’s like ‘Cheers,’ the old television show. You go there, and everybody knows your name,” he said.

Students acknowledge the difference that their instructors have made in their lives.

Janessa Davis, who graduated in 2016 with a degree in criminal justice/ justice administration, said she had classmates at Omaha Central High

“I don’t know of any teacher who ever turns anybody away.

They’re happy to have students in their office.”

— Marie Meland, who manages tutorial services at the Center for Achievement and Transition Services

Deb Clopton (right) provides advice and training for student researchers in parasitology.

School who were planning to go to large universities.

“I knew I wanted to go to a smaller school where I would have a one-on-one relationship with the faculty,” she said. “I just did the virtual tour, saw the comments about the one-on-one help and applied.”

She soon knew she had made the right choice. “One thing that stood out was how the professors always brought out the best qualities in students,” she said.

Michelle Kaiser said history professors Sara Crook and Spencer Davis were instrumental in her college career. “Dr. Crook encouraged me to attend a Phi Alpha Theta meeting, and I eventually became president and active on campus through that honorary society,” she said.

“Both of them encouraged me to apply for a research assistant position that gave me primary source research experience,” Kaiser said.

“I decided to apply for grad school in hopes of one day being a professor and researcher, in large part due to the impact they had on me as a student,” she said. She was accepted into the Ph.D. program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Even top students can hit rough patches. Logan Paben, an Academic All-America football player, credited Laura McCauley with navigating him through a difficult math class.

“I spent extra time in her office,” he said. “She was a big help.”

Such testimonials are common.

Retired science professor Daryl Long said the school’s size means “we know the students, and they’re not a number for us.”

“You might have the same students in three or four classes before they graduate,” he said.

“You see them progress, and that’s really fun for me.”

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And for the ones who struggle, he said, “They’re willing to open up because you’ve had communication with them.”

Faculty members say they can’t take all the credit for the academic success found on the Campus of a Thousand Oaks.

They say part of the winning formula is a student body that includes first-generation students from modest-income families, local rural residents and older adults who are determined to make up for lost time.

“They’re not afraid to work, they just jump in,” Dan Holtz, an English professor who retired in 2016, said of his students.

Parents might enjoy one other aspect of the close relationship between students and faculty.

“If you miss a class in the morning and the professors see you on the Quad in the afternoon, they don’t just walk by you,” said Todd Simpson of the Peru State College Foundation.

“They walk up and say, ‘Why weren’t you in class?’ ” “The parents love it,” he said, but added jokingly, “The students maybe have a different story.”

Danny Hayes, a criminal justice instructor, said he doesn’t feel the need to chastise students he spots on campus after missing his class.

“They know they’re caught, they’ll put their head down and start smiling,” he said.

“But it’s also an opportunity to have a conversation that might not have otherwise happened.

You’re building a relationship with a student.”

The faculty’s extra effort doesn’t go unappreciated. “All of the professors here have their own obligations and responsibilities, but I knew they cared about me,” alum Wendi Buggi said.

“I’m not the only student they made an effort to establish a personal connection with, but they made me feel like I was important and unique.”

PERSONALIZED APPROACH Two of the classes Wendi Buggi needed to obtain her degree in English weren’t offered until the following spring, but professor Bill Clemente arranged two independent study courses over the summer to allow her to complete her work in 2015.

“I literally could not have earned that degree without him making an exception for me,” she said. “(English professor) Kristi Nies also was incredible.

She mentored me ... and always asked about my family and how I was juggling everything.”

Biology professor Michael Barger (left), an honored scientist, continues the tradition of utilizing student assistance with his research.

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HONORED FACULTY Peru State College faculty members are honored frequently for their work as educators.

Mathematics professor Paul Hinrichs (above) in 2016 received the Milton M. Beckmann Lifetime Achievement Award.

The award is presented by the Nebraska Association of Teachers of Mathematics in recognition of outstanding contributions of mathematics education in Nebraska.

Kyle Ryan said student tutors can enhance classroom material with study tips and alternative learning styles.

PERU STATE COLLEGE CONTINUES to provide paths to achievement as students progress through their careers. The Center for Achievement and Transition Services, housed in what originally had been the library, provides bricks-and-mortar evidence of the school’s commitment to achieving success.

Marie Meland said the effort begins by putting out word as soon as the first students arrive on campus for the fall semester. Free tutoring and counseling are available to every student, including to distance learners by phone or Skype. “We make it as easy as we can,” she said.

“We post the schedules online, we distribute them, we send out messages to students, we do whatever we can to get them to use tutoring services.”

The most common type of tutoring involves study groups linked to individual classes.

But one-on-one assistance is available to those who have special needs. Most of the freshman classes have the groups available, and others – particularly math and science – can be formed at the request of students if they’re struggling.

CATS staff members keep an eye out for warning signs. “When our early alerts come out, we look at a specific class where several people are identified,” Meland said. The staff might talk to the instructor and then send a tutor to class to be introduced to the students. “I think we’ve built a good reputation among the faculty that we will not overstep,” she said.

Assistance isn’t just for freshmen. It’s also there for upperclassmen in challenging classes.

Kyle Ryan said his kinesiology classes cover the same material he used while teaching at the University of Michigan, “so the bar is set very high.”

He said Meland will ask him if he knows of someone who can tutor. “There’s a lot of material to cover,” she said, “so we like to put a group together for those classes.”

Ryan said he’ll think back to past students who have done well in the class and approach them.

“Having been through the course before and having understood the material, and knowing

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what my exams are like, generally they have free rein,” he said. “For the most part, these students are the ones who have kept their labs, the ones who have kept their notes.”

Peer mentors must be juniors or seniors with a 3.0 cumulative GPA who have completed 15 hours of training and received certification once they have documented 50 hours of mentoring experience. They are paid for their work.

CATS staff members ask faculty members to recommend potential tutors. From there, the students who are eligible go through a vetting process and undergo background checks.

Meland said it’s helpful if candidates have themselves had difficulties on occasion.

“You really won’t have empathy for the learner unless you have struggled and you know this feeling,” she said. “It’s very humbling and a little uncomfortable, so we want those students to understand. It’s so much different from just breezing into class and having your hand up all the time.”

The tutors are careful not to exceed their role. “I tell the students that their faculty member is the expert on this class,” Meland said. “Not only do they have the gradebook, they also know what they’re looking for and can help. They can listen to your process and tell where you’re going awry, and they can help you.”

One-on-one tutoring also is available through the Student Success Services (SSS), whose mission is to aid retention and graduation rates among at-risk students and those who are the first generation of their family to attend college. The services begin with the Summer Bridge program, which provides participants a 3-credit-hour program in the three weeks before the start of their first semester.

“They do a lot of math and a lot of writing,” said Tadiyos Gebre, a former math and science skills specialist for SSS. “By the time they’ve gone through that for three weeks, a lot of that rust wears off, and most of them are able to move on.”

Summer Bridge also provides lessons in financial literacy and an introduction to student services on campus. “So on day one,” Gebre said, “they’re not going to be wandering around trying to figure things out.”

The session before the 2016-17 school year also provided an outing to Camp Catron near Nebraska City, where participants tackled a ropes course.

“They work together in teams and open up a little more than they usually do,” Gebre said.

Janessa Davis, the first member of her immediate family to attend college, appreciated the help from SSS, which also included a calculator and laptop computer. She ended up becoming a tutor for her final two years at Peru.

“That was something that really changed my life, and I enjoyed it,” she said. “It was nice just helping people and seeing them grow.”

Meland said tutors, many of them education majors, enjoy the experience. “I think they take away as much from it as they give,” she said.

“I tell them that the student earns the grade,” she said. “But what you get to be proud of is your part in that. You can watch a light bulb come on over somebody’s head when you explain something and they really understand a concept. And that is very gratifying.”

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“It has been amazing to see all levels of faculty and staff working together in a shared mission of student focused service.

Everyone pulls together across campus departments to ensure the student’s needs are met.”

—Eulanda Cade, director of human resources

MENTORING EFFORTS ARE innovative and can extend beyond academics. During her senior year, Davis served as coordinator for the Fusion program, designed to help first-year students adjust to college life.

Part of the program included a series of “Daring Discussions” that allowed students to voice their opinions on controversial topics.

“It takes a strong individual to facilitate the discussions in a fair and level-headed manner,” said Adam Neveau, director of residence life. “Janessa was critical to the success of this program series.”

The school also brought Peru State alumni into the guidance process with the E-Mentoring program during the 2010-11 school year.

Alums were paired with students based on their interests, which included business, finance and art education. The E-Mentors answered questions through emails about the students’ career questions and goals and provided advice on the challenges of college.

“I just think there’s something magical about mentoring, when you have two different age groups,” said First Lady Elaine Hanson, who helped coordinate the program. “There’s this exchange of wisdom from the mentor with energy from the mentee.

“To have that role model is so important as young people are developing their character and determining their journey in life,” she said.

Among those she asked to participate was Al Urwin, class of 1982.

Urwin recalled his own days in college in agreeing to participate.

Mentor Madison Farris (left) and freshman Kory White took part in Fusion’s alcohol-free program at Peru State.

“When you’re going to school, you’re sheltered,” he said. “You have questions about how things work, so you don’t go out of college blindfolded into the world.”

The program allowed the students to communicate by email and

other means with their mentors, who mostly lived away from Peru and had work schedules.

“It worked well since all of us were busy,” Urwin said. Among the topics they discussed was looking for a job after graduation.

“There’s a fear of the unknown, wondering, ‘Am I good enough to get into this company?’ ’’ he said. “There’s a self-confidence issue.”

In February 2011, the mentors and students were able to meet face-to-face for the first time at the Al Wheeler Activity Center on campus.

Urwin said the best part of the program for him was “just knowing that I was able to answer questions that weren’t answered for me in that situation. I offered to help so that they were more prepared than I was.”

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THE TEAM EFFORT that helps ensure students’ success at Peru State College extends to the door of the president’s home.

Janessa Davis lost her father during her sophomore year. “All of my professors knew, and each and every one of them reached out,” she said. Instructors also made accommodations for her classes and schedule to help her get through the difficult time.

It didn’t stop there. She also heard from President Dan and First Lady Elaine Hanson.

“The President and First Lady wrote me a card and said if I ever needed to stop by at their house, the door was open,” she said. “To me that was a huge moment because it showed not only the professors, but the president, cared about me.”

Davis in 2016 became the first member of her family to earn a college diploma. She used Dan Hanson as a reference when she applied to graduate school at the University of Northern Iowa and began work on her master’s in clinical mental health counseling in the fall of 2016.

“It was an easy letter to write,” Hanson said of the reference.

“Over her almost four years at Peru State College, this student, who was the first in her family to attend college, had gained the respect of faculty and students alike,” he said.

“As faculty and staff members worked with her, she took advantage of every opportunity she was provided.”

Balancing the Demands of School and Activities Janessa Davis, who graduated in 2016 with a degree in criminal justice/justice administration, had a schedule loaded with activities and responsibilities.

Davis benefited from the Fusion program as a freshman and later took part as a mentor. She said such efforts at Peru State made a difference for her. “You feel welcomed, you feel loved and you feel cared about,” she said.

“Sometimes I preferred online classes because of my schedule and how many activities I had. No Friday classes helped tremendously,” said Davis, who took full advantage of activities at Peru. One of those activities, the Black Student Union, ended up transforming her college experience.

“I didn’t feel at home until I found the Black Student Union,” she said. “It was nice to learn that just because you’re in a rural area, it doesn’t mean you can’t find people who are like you.”

She ended up becoming president of the organization and was pushed into a leadership position in service to benefit campus and community.

She credited advisor Kristi Nies with the idea of the group raising money to plant a tree at the new campus entrance (right). “I was very proud of our club for doing that,“ Davis said. “I got emotional about it, because it was my last year at Peru, and I had left something behind.”

“I know those relationships will last a lifetime.”

—Janessa Davis, of her time at Peru

A Tradition of Innovation COLLEGE CLASSROOMS AT PERU never had traditional boundaries.

The school was a pioneer in the 19th century movement to establish normal schools – the precursor to teachers colleges – and experimented with new techniques in student teaching.

President Neal Gomon instituted block teaching in the 1950s, an innovation that later was adopted widely. The school introduced courses in the 1980s that would appeal to older parttime students, reinforcing its strength in non-traditional enrollment. And it was an early adapter in bringing computers into the curriculum and later in introducing online education.

Peru State College remains a national trendsetter in education, providing a unique mix of one-on-one interaction, engagement, technology and flexible programs for working students.

The school offers 13 undergraduate programs with 47 options, including 19 teaching endorsements. In addition, there are 23 minors, 17 pre-professional programs, nine online

“The part I enjoy is the freedom to teach different courses and to originate new courses. At bigger schools, professors were hired to be in a specific field.

I like that I can teach many different things and propose new courses.”

— Spencer Davis, history professor

programs, and two online master’s degrees in education and organizational management.

Backing up those offerings are faculty members willing to test new ways to engage students at a school whose size allows a nimble approach.

Kelly Asmussen began a class in 2011 proving that innovation thrives at Peru and that the classroom continues to have no boundaries.

His Searching for Justice class at Tecumseh State Correctional Institution, 32 miles west of campus, was composed of 15 Peru students and 15 inmates. The class focused on criminal justice issues as part of the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program. Such unconventional approaches to learning embrace President Dan Hanson’s goal of “a full, engaged college experience.”

At a class in a prison meeting room were inmates – “inside” students – and Peru Staters – “outside” students. Guest speakers offered their perspectives on the effects of crime on victims, offenders and the community. The students were on a first-name basis only, and “outside” students weren’t told what offenses the “insiders” had committed.

Ralph, an inmate, told the group that offenders need to take responsibility for their actions and for the harm they had caused. Jessica, a Peru student, asked for ideas on how to help crime victims escape the feeling of helplessness.

Issues addressed at other classes included the reasons people commit crimes, the realities of prison life and the effectiveness of punishment and rehabilitation.

The Inside-Out program began at Temple University in Philadelphia in 1997. The class in Tecumseh was the first in Nebraska. Asmussen, who had worked for 14 years as a recreation manager at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln, learned about the Inside-Out program at a seminar and brought the idea to Peru’s administration.

Marshall, an insider, said afterward that the course had given him “a voice and an opportunity to give my input and my insight. ... We don’t always have an opportunity to do that.”

Marshall added, “A lot of people see us solely as criminals.”

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“Inside” students Marshall and Chris (on left), inmates at Tecumseh State Correctional Institution, brainstormed with “outside” student Dana from Peru State and Shawn Sherman, a unit administrator at the men’s prison. The students used only their first names in the class, Searching for Justice.

Dana, a Peru criminal justice major, said the inside classmates changed her perspective on prisons and prisoners, which she said had been skewed by TV shows.

Bob Houston, state corrections director at the time, observed a class and said he saw value in such efforts. He said people who feel disenfranchised are more likely to victimize others.

But when inmates interact with people from outside prison, Houston said, it can change the way they see themselves and the way they will act once they return to society.

Danny Hayes took over the program after Asmussen’s retirement. It was a good fit. Hayes had worked for 10 years in a variety of positions for the Department of Corrections before coming to teach at Peru State and had acted as liaison for Asmussen when he started the class.

In addition, Hayes had studied under Asmussen at Peru.

Greg Galardi, dean of the School of Professional Studies, called faculty members such as Hayes and Asmussen “scholar practitioners.”

“We want people who have worked in the real world,” he said. “They can address the theory, they can address the practice, and then they can address the practical realities of the job.

We use college as a training ground to prepare (students) for the real world.”

Inmates have benefited from the program as much as the students. Asmussen said some have begun taking classes, and word has spread to others at Tecumseh about the value of the program. “Every year, I would get personal letters wanting to be selected,” he said.

Asmussen, a Teaching Excellence Award winner, said he knew he had made the right choice in coming to Peru State College in the 1990s.

He said he was determined to make a deep impact on students and not be just a lecturer.

“I needed to take them to other places to open their eyes,” he said. “I wanted them leaving and saying, ‘Wow, I got a great education at Peru!’ ”

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“The projects (in the Searching for Justice class) were mostly creating programs for inmates, so they have skills and education necessary to be reintroduced in society. It was gratifying to watch students and inmates come together and work as a team.”

— Kelly Asmussen, retired criminal justice professor

CONFERENCE OPPORTUNITIES

THE “TRAILS AND TALES INSTITUTE AND TOUR” marked its 20th anniversary in June 2016 with its longtime instructors, Sara Crook and Dan Holtz. The five-day course and

Faculty members’ work on campus drives the research they present at conferences and workshops. For example, Dr. Liz Kearney, assistant professor of education, prepared a workshop, “Overcoming Deficit Thinking: Improving Academic Achievement with Low Income Students.”

She presented it at the 2015 Northern Rocky Mountain Educational Research Association (NRMERA) Conference.

six-day tour, which stopped at Fort Robinson, Chimney Rock and the Nebraska State Capitol,

Conference attendance can lead to national leadership opportunities.

Loretta Zost, associate professor of education, and Greg Zost, associate professor of education, have both represented Nebraska on the NRMERA executive board. Biology professors Mike Barger, Deb Clopton and Richard Clopton have served as officers for the Southwestern Association of Parasitologists.

know exist,” he said. “I think we’ve increased awareness on the part of a lot of people.”

Students also benefit from conferences.

Kiana Borengasser presented her work with Richard Clopton at the Rocky Mountain Society of Parasitologists.

took special notice of the state’s sesquicentennial, which, like Peru State College’s, was celebrated in 2017. The importance of “Trails and Tales” was underscored when the Peru State Foundation provided grants to teachers to attend.

Holtz said the tour began as a way to explore Nebraska writers such as Willa Cather and Mari Sandoz and how the state’s history was reflected in what they wrote. “The themes of Nebraska history are touched on again and again in Nebraska literature,” he said. The added benefit of the tours, Holtz said, has been the engagement among the participants.

“The idea was that they would get on a bus for a week with teachers who had similar concerns, challenges and opportunities,” he said. “So when these teachers would go back to their classrooms, they would be knowledgeable and more enthusiastic about sharing that history and literature.”

In addition, literary societies dedicated to preserving the legacy of Nebraska authors have seen additional interest through the tour. Some of them operate in remote areas and have trouble attracting visitors. “We’ve given a shot in the arm to a lot of these places,” Holtz said.

Tour participants say they are amazed by what they have learned.

“We’ve taken people to important historical sites that most people in Nebraska don’t even

The “Trails and Tales” program led by professors Dan Holtz and Sara Crook has benefited teachers and students not just from southeast Nebraska, but from across the state.

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THE SMALL-SCHOOL APPROACH that allows faculty members to innovate keeps their work fresh and interesting. Peru professors have taught such classes as Comics as Literature, Analysis of Evil exploring serial crime and Microscopic Monarchs: Disease in History, which measured the effects of disease on social norms and public policy.

Beginning a new class is not a frivolous exercise. Proposals must work their way through a process that includes the instructor’s dean and colleagues, the college’s administration and the faculty senate.

“We have an incredibly rigorous process,” said Kyle Ryan, professor of exercise science, noting that a class must fulfill an educational need. “As long as I meet those objectives, how I get there is really up to me” he said. “I’ve had to go back more than once to rewrite a syllabus because my peers say, ‘You forgot this.’ At the same time, they’ve been very supportive.’’

James Nevitt, professor of human services, said courses should broad topics to ponder. “In my case it turned out to be how ‘evil’ has evolved as a concept and why ‘evil’ is offered historically as a possible explanation for events like mass murder and serial murder.”

English professor Bill Clemente has welcomed the chance to try new ideas, among which was Zombies in Film and Literature as a film studies class. “If you can find something you like to do, it’s a good idea to pursue it,” he said. “It keeps me interested as well.”

The zombies class proposal landed on the desk of Patrick Fortney, former dean of arts and sciences, for approval. Fortney said he encouraged creation of new classes if staffing permits.

“There’s plenty of room to do other ideas,” Fortney said. “I’ll never tell anyone not to, as long as it fits.”

Another avenue to innovation is a special topics course, which can be created with a dean’s approval, without going through the entire process. “That gives people a couple shots at it, to develop it,” he said.

Ryan took the process a step further. “I was fortunate enough to design the major when I came here,” he said, adapting a sports management major to exercise science and finally to kinesiology. “We morphed it over a period of years.”

Ryan said the new major allows him to make full use of his educational background.

“They look at the strengths of their faculty, and they don’t say, ‘Let’s make this guy teach something outside his content area,’ ” he said. “Instead it’s, ‘Let’s have him teach what he’s good at and passionate about.’ ’’ Faculty members say they especially appreciate the flexibility. “Bigger schools categorize you, limit what you can do,” said history professor Spencer Davis.

Fortney saw the benefits from an administrator’s viewpoint. “I believe if faculty members are interested in something and love something, they’re going to do a better job at it.”

Tim Borchers, vice president for academic affairs, said the greatest value of faculty innovation lies in the end result. “It increases student learning,” he said. “I think our graduates do well, and that’s probably the best proof of how effective our instructors are in using innovative teaching strategies.”

PART V | 235

“We value and appreciate the varied ways schools welcome our teacher candidates throughout the program – observations, partnerships, mentoring, workshops, multiple practicum experiences in rural and urban settings – and student teaching.”

— Pat Rippe, director of field experiences for the School of Education

THE ROLE OF ONLINE EDUCATION continues to grow as Peru State College tries to meet students’ ever-changing needs.

FLEXIBILITY FOR ATHLETES Logan Paben, a standout football player and outstanding scholar, can attest to the difficulty in balancing athletics and academics.

“A normal student goes to two or three classes a day and then can socialize,” he said. Athletes’ additional duties, he said, include practice, meetings, film viewing and service projects.

“It makes it tough as far as time management is concerned,” he said.

“Online classes are nice because you do them at your own pace. They also help a lot if for whatever reason you can’t take a class at its time.”

Paben said the in-class experience remained his preference, but he appreciated having online alternatives available.

“When you’re pulled in a lot of directions, it’s nice to do something at your own pace.”

The classes are far more than staring at a computer screen, a fact that students appreciate.

Wendi Buggi had left college in 2000 but decided to resume her education in 2014 – by this time married with two children and a photography business – and tackled a full class load at Peru. “Online classes work for me when I’m juggling a family, a photography job and other community commitments,” she said. “The professors at Peru understand that students are balancing a whole lot more than just classes these days.”

Online classes also help active on-campus students.

Peru State College’s personal approach to education does not end when a student signs up for an online class.

President Dan Hanson said Peru’s faculty has excelled in handling the difficult transition to more curriculum online. “Online students have a good interaction with a faculty member and are supported well when they call for help,” he said. “That’s the same concept of working well with your on-campus students – having them engaged, having them involved. Online doesn’t mean not engaged. That can be done electronically as well.”

Janessa Davis, class of 2016, agreed. “If I didn’t understand or had a question, I could still see the professors on campus,” she said. “It was online, but it was still campus-based.”

The guidance from faculty is essential because in spite of some obvious advantages, online classes can’t overcome all of the challenges in obtaining a college education. “Your time management is going to be the main factor in how you succeed,” said business professor Judy Grotrian. “You still have deadlines to meet, and many times the requirements for the research require large amounts of time.”

Clemente, who had helped the school set up its computer lab, said he “jumped at the chance to create an online class” when the idea came up. He and others at Peru investigated what it took to make the classes work well and dived in.

Clemente hasn’t abandoned classroom work in favor of online, though. “I love both templates,” he said. “Face to face, I can walk around the classroom, but there are parts of online that I like with students.” He also noted that some classes are best taught by a professor in front of a room, giving History of the English Language as an example.

Ellie Kunkel, dean of the School of Education, said hybrid classes mix class meetings and online work for teaching candidates. Online course work doesn’t allow education students to be evaluated in the classroom, she noted. “We need to be able to assess professional dispositions,” Kunkel said, “and we need to be able to model professional dispositions.”

Still, many types of engagement succeed in online classes. “You can get a really interesting mix of younger students who can be inspired by older ones, or vice versa,” Clemente said.

“And a lot of people wouldn’t talk in a regular class because they’re shy, but they will online.”

The level of engagement was apparent in one of Clemente’s online classes: An Alaska student ended up dating a classmate from Nebraska.

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They had begun communicating on the class’s discussion board and then moved on to private communication. The Alaska student attended commencement when she graduated.

Sheri Grotrian-Ryan said she sets up projects in her business classes that will work for different students’ schedules. Conflicts to avoid might include full-time jobs or differences in time zones with long-distance learners. “You take that barrier out of the picture,” she said.

Grotrian-Ryan said the students then are able to work together using conference calling, email or other electronic media. “Whatever it is,” she said, “they seem to make it work.”

Greg Galardi, dean of the School of Professional Studies, noted that Peru State is one of the few schools nationally to stream accounting classes. “Students can actually message their instructor during class,” he said. “So it’s interactive, it’s engaging. If you can’t make the class that day, you can go back, turn on the class and see the whole thing.”

“We’re way ahead of the game,” he said. “There are people following what we’re doing.”

Even art classes can be taught effectively online, art professor Sheli Petersen said. “The advantage that a seated class can’t offer is that people all over the country can take it,” said Petersen, who has had students from as far away as Montana. “Geography is no barrier.”

Another benefit is that some students are motivated by the way they can bring in additional material from their own online research. “They still have to read everything, but the class can take them to other areas,” Clemente said.

The online classes are especially important to non-traditional students who need to balance the requirements of a job with classes.

Todd Simpson, Peru’s foundation chief executive, can speak first-hand about the benefits

“New technologies and educational tools can’t overcome age-old student tendencies – such as procrastination. ... Prior planning prevents poor performance.”

— Judy Grotrian, business professor who still preaches the “5 P’s”

of online education, having received a master of science in organizational management from Peru in 2015. “I’m kind of long in the tooth to be taking classes,” he said. “But I had always wanted to increase my educational standing, and this was a great opportunity to do it.” He said class lectures and lessons were available for him to work into his schedule, and his professors responded promptly when he emailed them.

“The platform also provided easy ways for me to ask questions, get feedback on my assignments, and interact with fellow classmates, even though we never met face to face,” he said. “It was incredibly student oriented.”

Simpson said the faculty even helped him fit his assignments into a schedule that included travel.

“The program is designed to meet the educational needs of working adults, and I really appreciated it,” he said.

Simpson’s wife, Michelle, saw how well things were going with her husband and decided to pursue a master’s in education. They walked the stage at commencement together in May 2015.

Todd Simpson (left), Dan Hanson, Foundation Vice Chair SaraBeth Donovan and Michelle Simpson at 2015 commencement.

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Online courses allow more efficient use of time while maintaining high expectations for course work.

ONLINE FLEXIBILITY

THE COMBINATION OF ONLINE CLASSES and flexible scheduling has allowed on-campus students to become fully engaged in their college experience by allowing more

Students juggling busy family schedules benefit from Peru State College offerings.

time for activities, athletics and service.

“Being a nontraditional student, married with children, my degree would have not been possible in the time frame I achieved without the availability of online courses,” said Peru grad Michelle Kaiser.

“I was able to be home with my children and required very little child care for the majority of my time at PSC.”

helpful when the team traveled to games.

Kaiser started at Peru in 2013 and typically took 15 to 18 hours a semester, along with six hours in the summer. She graduated in 2016 after 3½ years.

Students are able to build schedules without Friday classes. Logan Paben, who played football at Peru, said a four-day class schedule was a tremendous aid to athletes. “The coaches are good about not scheduling things on Friday,” he said, and a four-day school week also was “Fridays are great so you can get caught up on homework,” he said. He also would use the day to do work in the library and take care of service projects.

“That was definitely useful for me, and other students will tell you that too,” he said.

Michelle Kaiser’s family appreciated the flexible schedule. “I was able to map out which classes I would need and figure out when they were offered through the course catalog,” said Kaiser, a non-traditional student with children. “In doing this, I only needed to be on campus a couple days a week.”

In addition, students within driving distance of their home also enjoy that the four-day school schedule allows three-day weekend trips to see their families.

Innovative approaches have expanded Peru State’s reach to non-traditional students, a benefit not just to them, but to the college as well.

Sara Crook said the older, non-traditional students “set the bar high for the other students.”

They generally are active participants in class, she said, and are prompt in turning in their work – sometimes early.

“The 18-year-olds look at them like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ ” she said.

For those non-traditional students starting or resuming their college education later in life, classes represent more than just a means to get a grade.

“The non-trads want to get the information,” she said. “They say, ‘I’m here to learn something.’ They add a real dimension to the college.”

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THE SUCCESS OF PERU STATE COLLEGE’S innovative classes and programs can best be told in individual stories.

Asmussen ended up writing a letter of recommendation for the parole hearing for one inmate who participated in the Searching for Justice class at Tecumseh State Correctional Institution. The man was paroled and has built a new life for himself. As a parolee, he served as a guest instructor during a presentation to college students in Lincoln.

“They were taken aback when they found out he was on parole,” Asmussen said.

The former inmate also has become an accomplished artist and played drums on “All Original, All Nebraska,” Dan Holtz’s album of songs celebrating Nebraska’s sesquicentennial.

His artwork is on the cover.

“I knew who he was and who he had been, and he changed a great deal,” Asmussen said of the man. “The Inside-Out program had a positive effect on him.”

The transformative effect extended to Peru students as well. Asmussen recalled one freshman who had come some distance to Peru and was feeling homesick.

“Nothing was right,” he said, and the girl was planning to quit school at the semester.

He described the Inside-Out class to her and convinced her to stay and take it.

“It changed her entire attitude toward education,” Asmussen said. “To see her walk out at graduation and get her diploma brought a deep level of satisfaction to me.

“She said, ‘That’s the only way I would have come back to Peru, and it completely changed my life.’ ”

Long-Distance Learning Kellie Slater (pictured) of Bellingham, Washington, was searching for an economical, accredited master’s program and found Peru State College.

Among the sources she used was the website geteducated.com, which had rated Peru State as a good value. She was impressed by the low cost, along with the school’s accreditation. “My only real concern was the lack of brand recognition,” Slater said. She hadn’t heard of the school 1,800 miles away in Nebraska, but her research eased her mind.

Once she’d made her decision, she was pleased that her instructors provided timely responses to her long-distance questions. “They were willing to work with you if you had something unexpected take place,” she said. While taking classes, she also was making plans to start a company selling dog products with natural ingredients. “Since part of the course work entailed reading about and doing exercises involving entrepreneurial activities, that was helpful,” she said.

Two Terriers Inc. launched in 2016 and was able to get its products into Whole Foods Market and local retailers in Washington. It also sells products through its website.

She received her master’s in organizational management in May 2016.

A friend surprised her by making arrangements for them to fly to Nebraska to meet classmates and professors in person, see the Campus of a Thousand Oaks and accept her diploma. “Getting my diploma was a huge moment for me,” Slater said. “I did not ‘walk’ when I received my B.A. degree, and I had always regretted that.” The degree meant even more for her entrepreneurial dreams.

“My educational experience helped me concentrate on what elements to focus on for my start-up,” she said.

Greg Seay, dean of graduate programs, said Peru State’s master’s programs are a good fit for working adults with busy schedules.

“From application to graduation, you don’t have to come to campus,” he said. “We encourage you to, because it’s a beautiful campus, but you don’t have to attend.”

Lessons Never Forgotten STUDENTS LEAVE THE PERU CAMPUS with more than their degrees. They also depart with precious memories of their friendships and good times on the hilltop.

But as the years pass, they also develop a deep appreciation for the hard work they put into their studies, the dedicated faculty who stuck with them when they struggled and the financial sacrifices their families endured to ensure their success.

What results is a passion to give back.

The Sapp family learned the value of a good education from their mother, Emily, a Peru State Normal graduate who had taught in a one-room school and later raised seven children during the Great Depression.

Daughters Veloura and Zelma graduated from Peru as well and also taught in one-room schools.

“Our family understands the importance of education,” said son Bill Sapp.

“Our mother, being a very positive person, encouraged her children to go to college, as an education is something no one can ever take away.”

Bill and Lee Sapp, who founded The Sapp family was honored with a landscaped plaza behind Eliza Morgan Hall.

From left are Lee Sapp, Bill and Lucille Sapp, Zelma Sapp Drake and Ilma Gottula.

Sapp Bros. Travel Centers and Petroleum with two other brothers, remembered the value of a Peru diploma, even though they were not alums. They jump-started

the new Oak Bowl project in 2012 with a pledge of $500,000, the largest single non-estate gift in Peru State College history.

“We are making this gift to honor our mother and sisters who spent their lives educating others,” said Bill Sapp, who had been taught in eighth grade by Zelma.

Lee also paid tribute to his mother and sisters.

“All of our accomplishments are due to their strength, love, faith and focus on the importance of education,” Lee said. “By helping Peru State, we are helping students throughout southeast Nebraska get a quality education at a reasonable price.”

The Sapps’ gift was more than just a number. Peru State President Dan Hanson said it put the school “another step closer to realizing an important vision for our future.”

240 | PART V

The revitalized Oak Bowl features a turf field, press box, concourse area and private boxes.

“The Sapps’ gift was transformational for the Oak Bowl,” said Todd Simpson, Peru State College Foundation chief executive. “We had to raise a significant amount of money to lock down our state appropriation.”

The Sapps’ giving hasn’t just funded bricks and mortar, though. The Sapp Family Scholarship was established in the 2013-14 school year, based on students’ need, and has become one of the school’s biggest scholarship program.

“Lee Sapp continues to be very supportive,” Simpson said. “He wanted to be able to provide funding for students.”

The school honored the Sapp family’s commitment by naming Sapp Plaza in its honor.

The landscaped plaza behind Eliza Morgan Hall contains seating, a fire pit and a barbecue grill for use by students and visitors to campus.

Simpson said the Sapps are yet another example of how Peru State College benefits from alumni, families and friends who are fiercely loyal to the school.

“The number one reason is a sense that they want to give back to the institution that gave them so much,” he said.

The generosity of alumni not only helped the school turn the historic Oak Bowl into a showpiece, but also paved the way for other building renovations and a new entryway to campus.

Paul and Arlene Fell, both class of 1967, understand the roots of that loyalty, serving as co-chairs of the Peru State Alumni Association.

“Because it was a small college, you knew everybody,” Arlene said. “You knew where they were from.”

That loyalty to Peru continues to be seen in alumni gifts and the stories behind them.

PART V | 241

“A lot of us never forgot where we came from.

And in our case, what we do for the college is because we owe it to the college.

I shudder to think how I would have turned out without Peru State College.”

— Paul Fell, class of 1967

Arlene and Paul Fell (left), Dennis Curtis, Tim (Sarge) Gilligan, and Louis and Judy Fritz met up at the 2016 Alumni Association chili feed.

Paul Fell said such events stir up good memories. “Time stands still to some degree,” he said.

THE 1867 SOCIETY, created to allow alumni to give back to Peru through estate planning, has become a valuable component of the college’s vision for the future. “Our goal when we

“You talk to former athletes, and they’ll tell you, ‘Well, we went through so much together for four years of football that 20 years later, I just see the guy and pick up right where I left off.’ ” — Paul Fell, class of 1967

communicate with our friends and our donors is that we want to raise the college to family status in their heart and in their mind,” the Foundation’s Simpson said. “Think about us last.

Think about your church. Think about your family. Think about the other things you want to think about, and then think about Peru State.”

Among those who remembered Peru in their estate planning were the late Maxine Remmers, class of 1939, and son-in law Mike Guilliatt, class of 1967.

“We wanted to help give students extra things that the budget won’t pay for, and to do that you need a strong foundation,” Guilliatt said.

In 2014, President Dan Hanson and SaraBeth Donovan of the Peru State College Foundation’s board dedicated a new plaque display listing the names of the 1867 Society members. Other members have preferred to remain anonymous.

Simpson said the Foundation focuses on the future when talking to alumni. “We talk about the needs 10, 20, 50 years down the road and how estate giving is a wonderful way to take care of that,” he said.

The efforts aren’t lost on Hanson. “The Foundation has taken an instrumental lead in helping move this institution forward,” he said. “And one of our other strengths is just a very, very loyal alumni base.”

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THE PERU STATE COLLEGE FOUNDATION has worked hard to strengthen ties with Bobcat graduates. Those bonds are forged in memories of good friends, great experiences, nurturing faculty and family commitment.

Foundation Board Chairman Larry Green, class of 1971, can speak first-hand of the way the school becomes woven into the fabric of the lives of alumni. Many of his experiences echo those you would expect to hear at an alumni gathering.

Green’s parents, James and Mavis, hadn’t gone to college, but it was expected that he and his sisters would. “I have to give them a lot of credit for that,” he said. “There was never any discussion of whether we would go.”

Green headed off to a large university after graduating from Brock High School in southeast Nebraska, where he excelled in sports. But he missed basketball, and he admitted, “I wasn’t doing that well.”

Some of his university classes were in large lecture halls, and some were taught by television.

“You just went when you wanted to go,” he said. “For an undisciplined young kid, that was “Scholarships allow doors to open for students that opened to those of us on the foundation,” Larry Green said of the foundation’s fundraising priorities.

not the best way to go to school.”

A visit with legendary Peru Coach Jack McIntire – and a promise of a scholarship if he

made the basketball team – convinced Green to transfer to Peru State.

The change of scenery made all the difference for Green. “The teachers knew everybody in the class,” he said. “It wasn’t impossible to fail, but the instructors wanted you to succeed.

They were there to help you.”

And at the large university? “They were there to lecture you,” he said.

He benefited from the personal approach in basketball as well. “It had a lot to do with Coach McIntire,” Green said. “You got to learn a lot about life from him.”

The team, whose roster included African-Americans from large cities, also provided valuable lessons for a teammate who had grown up in rural southeast Nebraska.

“I hadn’t been exposed to other cultures, and athletics gave me a big step up in that,” said Green, who averaged 22 points a game as a senior and made the all-state college team.

PART V | 243

OWEN ZOOK Zook graduated from the Nebraska State Teachers College at Peru in 1927 with a bachelor’s degree and a teaching certificate.

He taught and served as principal in Exeter but later moved to Eugene, Oregon, where he spent most of his career.

Zook died in 2010 at age 106 and left his alma mater $860,000, the foundation’s largest single donation at the time. He placed no restrictions on how his gift would be used.

“When he was here, back in the 1920s, somebody made a big impact on his life,” Peru Foundation CEO Todd Simpson said.

“That’s what kept him teaching all those years, that’s the reason why he remained enthusiastic and the reason he remembered Peru State.”

“That experience in my life was unbelievable,” Green said.

Those lessons followed him in a career that led him to be president of the plastic container operations for Ball Corporation, a billion-dollar company that is a component of the S&P 500.

“Fifty percent of the success I had in my lifetime was directly related to sports,” he said.

Green said the Peru State College Foundation still finds a number of strong pulls for alumni who might have been separated by the years and by the miles between them.

He said loyalty can be tied largely to the small-school experience. “Kids get to know each BEULAH LIVINGSTON

other,” he said.

Livingston of Falls City started classes in 1931 at Peru, where her mother, aunt and sister had also gone to school.

After one year, she received a certificate to teach.

that faculty members have with students because his sister, business professor Judy Grotrian, is

She couldn’t afford to continue full time and so for nine years alternated teaching for one year to earn tuition money, then taking classes at Peru. She earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 1940 and continued to teach.

They also get to know their instructors. Green said he has witnessed the close interaction also a Peru alum.

Family ties matter for alums such as Green, whose sister Mary Jane Green also graduated from Peru and taught there. His niece, Sheri Grotrian-Ryan, and husband Kyle Ryan teach on the hilltop as well, and their son Ian attends daycare at Peru.

Larry Green said recent improvements to the school have made alumni especially proud of their degrees. He said the school’s affordability, accessibility and proximity also build loyalty.

“There are a lot of people who have gone there ... that probably wouldn’t have gotten an opportunity to go anywhere else,” he said.

“As I got older, I realized the opportunities that the college had given me,” he said.

“At the end of the day, that’s the thing that connects me the most.”

She married Clayton Evans in 1950, and the couple settled in Washington, where Beulah taught in Snoqualmie for 24 years.

In 1995, she and Clayton established the Beulah Livingston Evans Scholarship for education majors.

Peru State College later was included in their estate plans.

Peru State College Foundation CEO Todd Simpson (left) and Foundation Vice Chair SaraBeth Donovan with science professor Daryl Long at an event at the president’s house.

244 | PART V

THE FOUNDATION’S SIMPSON said the school’s emphasis on “essential engagement” on campus extends to the alumni as well.

“The number one driving factor for why alumni will support their institution is what their undergraduate experience was,” Simpson said. “But right next to it is, ‘Are they currently engaged with the institution?’ ” “That’s more than just sending them a letter,” he said. “It’s making them feel like they’re a part of what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Simpson said the number of alumni events has more than tripled in recent years, with regular functions tied to Peru athletics, more receptions and more reunions.

“It’s all about trying to touch these people in some way and get some kind of contact with them,” he said.

One way the Foundation has worked to reach out to alumni is by having students work at phone-a-thons, rather than paying professional solicitors.

“It’s a much different kind of interaction when an alum speaks to a student on campus and maybe asks, ‘Hey, is T.J. Majors (building) still there?’ ” Simpson said.

“We have some wonderful conversations between our alums and our students,” he said.

“That really helps the engagement process.”

Another factor in helping Peru State College strengthen its ties to alumni: the school’s recent years of sustained success. Updated facilities and rising enrollment paint a bright picture, Simpson said, with enrollment figures being particularly impressive.

“That’s evidence of a college on the move, trending upward,” he said. “Most colleges and universities in the United States are flat or declining, so we’re very proud of that.”

He said alumni also take note of the school’s academic success, including national accolades and ratings.

And they understand where the school is headed, Simpson said. “They are looking at the president’s vision and the successes and saying, ‘Hey, this college keeps hitting home runs time after time after time, and we want to be a part of that.’ ” The Peru State College Foundation reported an all-time high for revenue in 2015, with an average gift doubling in amount since 2012. The Foundation also identified $18 million in estate expectancies and recorded gifts.

Simpson realizes how much easier fundraising can be with supportive alumni.

“Peru is unique in that we have a fiercely loyal alumni base,” he said. “That sense of wanting to give back is the primary reason that folks want to remember Peru State.”

And in the end, the school’s strengthened position helps educate its students.

“Whether by refining educational programs and improving the student experience, or by investing in infrastructure and capital improvements, Peru State is working to give students the best educational experience possible,” Simpson said.

“That kind of refinement and renovation requires commitment from all PSC stakeholders,” he said. “And that commitment has come with unbridled enthusiasm.”

PART V | 245

LOIS CHRISTENSEN Christensen started college in 1942 but had her studies interrupted by World War II. She returned in 1946, graduated in 1948 with a degree in history and later earned a master’s. In spite of being turned down by several doctoral programs that didn’t accept women, she persevered and completed her Ph.D. in history from the University of Nebraska.

She took a position in the history department of California State University-Chico in 1957 as one of the school’s only female faculty members and eventually rose to full professor.

After she retired, she chose to honor Peru State faculty member Phyllis Davidson, a pioneer in women’s athletics.

Christensen helped create the Phyllis Davidson Memorial Scholarship, awarded to a volleyball player majoring in physical education with a financial need. Christensen died in 2013, but her estate ensured that the scholarship would continue.

A Platform for Winning PERU STATE NORMAL PRESIDENT W.A. CLARK grabbed a shovel in 1901 and led a group of students down the hill to carve out a football field, intent on providing healthy exercise and a pleasant diversion to a campus that already was enthused about athletics.

The Oak Bowl, as it would come to be known, became much more than that. It has been a symbol of the importance and permanence of sports at the school.

Peru would win hundreds of games under the leadership of legendary coaches such as Lon Graf, Al Wheeler and Jack McIntire. The 1990 NAIA national championship in football remains a great source of pride, and countless other teams have filled trophy cases over the years.

But Peru’s athletic legacy runs deeper than that. The school was a pioneer in women’s sports

“The Oak Bowl is a historic stadium that’s a great small-college venue for spectators and players.

In the fall, with the leaves turning, it’s just a beautiful place to play. The field sits down in a bowl, and the crowd’s right on top of you. It just makes for an intimate small-college environment.”

and later sponsored teams and programs when other schools had abandoned them. Its high school girls volleyball tournament for years was the equivalent of a state tourney for the unsanctioned sport and helped plant the seed for what would become a statewide obsession.

Peru today provides scholarships in football, basketball and baseball for men and volleyball, basketball, cheerleading, golf, cross country and softball for women. Those scholarships help lower the cost of education for a sizable portion of the school’s on-campus student body.

Beyond that, Bobcat athletics embrace the school’s goals: academic achievement, engagement, service and creating strong ties to the the region surrounding campus.

“The upgrade of the Oak Bowl just reinforces the emphasis on quality and prominence of the facilities, of the pride that the administration, the community and the State College System take in the school,” said Athletic Director and Football Coach Steve Schneider.

— Steve Schneider, athletic director and football coach

Peru State football player Shane Lloyd of Ridgecrest, California, said he enjoyed seeing the spirit on and off campus rise because of the new Oak Bowl.“The new stadium takes playing to the next level,” he said.

246 | PART V

THE NEW OAK BOWL football stadium and field were rededicated in the fall of 2014.

The $9 million project, part of a campus-wide master plan completed in 2012, had been jump-started by private funding that included a $500,000 gift from Lee and Bill Sapp.

From there, State Senators Lavon Heidemann and John Harms helped steer an appropriations bill through the Legislature to provide the bulk of the funding.

The results are stunning: a new field of artificial turf, landscaping, lighting and seating for 2,000 fans. Additional new construction houses concessions, a Peru State souvenir store, a first-aid room, restrooms, suites for special guests and offices for coaches and staff.

The football players were excited about moving into their new home.

“I remember them rolling the turf out and stepping out onto the new field for the first time and looking up at those massive grandstands and press boxes,” said Briar Burr, class of 2015.

“Luckily for me, I was able to play two glorious years inside the new Oak Bowl.

“That was something that President Hanson had worked so hard for, and we are so grateful for his efforts and what he did for the football program and Peru State College as a whole.”

Al Urwin, class of 1982 and a former football team captain, had been well aware of the planned renovation at the Oak Bowl through his work as a member of the Peru State College Foundation board. “But when it was over and done with, it was amazing,” he said. “I first thought, ‘This isn’t what I played on.’

“It’s a good recruiting tool for athletes,” he said.

“For small schools, facilities and the academics sell them.”

Todd Simpson, Peru State College Foundation chief executive, said that a football game is often what first brings visitors to campus.

“If those folks, maybe even from an opposing team, have other children and they came to the stadium the way it was before it was redone, I would argue that we would have

Cheyenne Dalrymple was one of nine members of the softball team who made dean’s list in the spring of 2016.

had zero chance to get that student to consider an education at Peru State.

“With the way we have the stadium today, and the other buildings and the grounds, I’d say we have a very good chance of at least getting the new students to consider coming to Peru.”

And the stadium isn’t used only for Peru State games.

When the field was unveiled, President Dan Hanson emphasized its use by all students for recreation and intramurals. The Oak Bowl also would draw new visitors on campus by hosting high school activities such as band competitions and playoff football games.

Stan Carpenter, chancellor of the Nebraska State College System, called athletics “very important at a small school like Peru, because ... they give a real flavor to the institution.”

PART V | 247

BOBCATS DON’T STEP BACK from a challenge. After competing the previous four years

THE HEART OF AMERICA ATHLETIC CONFERENCE The conference is composed of 14 schools in four states:

as an independent, Peru State College in 2011 began competition in the Heart of America Athletic Conference. Schneider said the school’s search for a conference was “lengthy and time consuming.”

“We were looking for a conference that fit our needs institutionally, not just athletically,” he said. Fortunately, the Heart of America at the same time had lost member schools and was seeking to replace them. “So they approached us, and we were in the process of vetting them,” Schneider said.

One complication: The conference

• Avila University, Kansas City, Missouri

was made up entirely of private,

• Baker University, Baldwin City, Kansas

was a public state college.

• Benedictine College, Atchison, Kansas

knowing that would be the case,”

• Central Methodist, Fayette, Missouri

athletic director. “They actually

faith-based schools, while Peru “They had invited us to join, said Ted Harshbarger, associate

• Clarke University, Dubuque, Iowa

changed their constitution to allow

• Culver-Stockton College, Canton, Missouri

Schneider said Peru representa-

a public institution to come in.” tives visited all of the conference

• Evangel University, Springfield, Missouri

schools looking for similarities and

• Graceland University, Lamoni, Iowa

athletic departments and adminis-

• Grand View University, Des Moines, Iowa • MidAmerica Nazarene University, Olathe, Kansas • Missouri Valley College, Marshall, Missouri • Mount Mercy University, Cedar Rapids, Iowa • Peru State College, Peru, Nebraska • William Penn University, Oskaloosa, Iowa

differences. “We sat down with their

The Bobcats were ranked as high as 20th in NAIA polls during the 2015 season.

trative teams and were researching them as much as they were researching us,” he said.

The investigative work bore fruit. Dan Hanson announced in 2010 that Peru would join, allowing a full year for the school to lay the groundwork for a new era in athletics.

Schneider couldn’t be happier with the move. “Number one, it’s a good mission-fit, institutionally and athletically,” he said. “Two, we have a home among similar schools.

Three, the competition is pretty keen, so it has helped us aspire to a higher level athletically.”

Make no mistake, the competition in the Heart of America – in facilities, resources and expectations – is tough.

“We’ve obviously stepped up, and it’s not been without a challenge,” Harshbarger said.

But he said Peru benefits, among other things, from having top-notch facilities. “Our football stadium, obviously, is a Cadillac compared to most,” he said.

Peru officials point out that Bobcats aren’t looking to take the easiest road to success.

“You get what you expect,” Schneider said. “It has raised expectations of our programs.”

The move has “raised our profile athletically and academically,” Schneider said. “The fact that we’re in a league of private schools tells you about our quality of academics and operations and our aspirations about our athletics as well.”

248 | PART V

Peru State faces tough competition in the Heart of America Conference, which includes 2016 national runner-up Baker University.

PERU STATE ATHLETES CHASE academic excellence with the same drive used in chasing championships.

The school burnished its reputation by having Bobcat athletes win consecutive A.O. Duer Awards, which are presented annually to one male and one female NAIA athlete. The award recognizes not only academic excellence – applicants must have an overall grade-point average of at least 3.75 on a 4-point scale – but also character, leadership and service.

Mitch Boshart, an education major from Wood River who played football, earned the award in 2013. “Peru State offers different opportunities for students to get involved with community service,” Boshart said.

Logan Paben followed Boshart in winning the award in 2014 over approximately 30,000 male athletes competing in the NAIA. “Both Mitch and Logan are well-deserving of the honor and represent the many fine students who choose to attend Peru State,” Hanson said. “I appreciate the focus on characterdriven athletics of our coaches and Athletic Director Steve Schneider. This focus helps build future leaders of high character.”

Harshbarger said the awards are important not only to the athletic department, but to the school as a whole. “Those sorts of things have had an impact in terms of how the campus is viewed,” he said.

PART V | 249

“The upgrades, in terms of the press box and just the quality of the facility, are just an indication of the importance that football plays here at Peru State.

It certainly helps with the recruitment efforts.”

— Steve Schneider, athletic director and football coach

Athletics and academics go hand in hand from the beginning of the recruiting process.

Paben admitted that football was what first “put Peru on the map for me,” but Coach Schneider quickly opened his eyes about the school.

“I know he really mentioned the academic facilities,” Paben said of his first visit to campus.

“He stressed how nice they were.”

Since he planned to become a teacher after graduation, Schneider also stressed the strength of Peru’s School of Education.

“I don’t know if there’s any school better than Peru at teaching teachers,” Paben said.

He credited Harshbarger with helping him with his application for the Duer Award,

“The athletic department as a whole gives us a big help in getting caught up on homework and staying ahead with academics.”

— Logan Paben, class of 2016

along with the other honors he received.

“You don’t realize how big it is until you win it,” he said. “Winning back-to-back says a lot about Peru State.”

Female athletes also are making their mark in the classroom.

Bobcat volleyball player Shannon Liewer of Imperial was named CoSIDA All-America first team in 2015, making her one of 29 Bobcats to have earned Academic All-America honors.“This is a very neat honor and a great way to cap off my volleyball career,” she said.

As is common with Peru athletes, Liewer also carried a full load of activities and service.

She served as a student ambassador and was a member of Beta Beta Beta and Alpha Chi honoraries and participated in volunteer events, including blood drives and the Peru city cleanup. Schneider said it’s not just athletes who benefit from Peru State’s academic support.

The cross country team competed as far south as Winfield, Kansas, in 2016 and as far west as Hastings, Nebraska.

250 | PART V

With no academic restrictions on enrollment, the school must be proactive to assure success with students of varying levels of college preparation.

“As a result of being open access, our academic support services have to be pretty strong,” he said. “The positive thing about that is that the academic support doesn’t just serve athletes, it serves all students.”

Athletes put in time regularly at the Center for Achievement and Transition Services to make sure they’re staying on top of their studies.

Paben said assistant football coach Lou Varley, the 2016 NAIA national assistant coach of the year, would meet with him several times a week to help him in math. “He was crucial with the success in that class,” Paben said.

“I always think it’s valuable for one of our football players to meet with the line coach (Varley) and work on trigonometry with him,” said Marie Meland, who manages tutorial services at CATS. “A lot of our coaches have advanced degrees and can help. I want students to know there is a value to the education, and athletics is part

Corday Sims (11) was a first-team NAIA Division I All-American for the 2015-16 season, averaging 26 points a game in leading the Bobcats to the national tournament.

of that.”

First Lady Elaine Hanson is impressed with the coaches’ level of concern for schoolwork.

“Our coaches realize academics are first, athletics are second, and they provide good role modeling for students,” she said.

She pointed out that “a team gives students an automatic support group. The athletes don’t fall between the cracks because they’re accountable to someone.”

Schneider makes sure Peru State’s athletes are aware of how good they have it. “I tell student athletes here, ‘If you don’t make it here at Peru, with the faculty there for you and the academic support services, shame on you. You’re just not taking care of business.’ ”

PART V | 251

PERU STATE COLLEGE HAS BEEN HONORED as a participant in the NAIA’s Champions of Character program, which measures institutions’ commitment to character training and recognition, conduct in competition and academic focus.

The program means that Bobcat athletes are scholars who also contribute to their school, community and classmates.

The Champions of Character program fits in well with Peru’s tradition. In 1966, the football program gave this account of what sports meant to the school: “As in the past, men will learn how to win and lose with grace; leadership learned on the field of battle will become leadership in society; and the rallying force of sport will long be a part of the lure which makes and keeps a Peruvian a Peruvian.”

Off the fields and courts, Peru State athletes bring the same effort to service that they do to training.

The college’s men’s baseball team has earned praise for its work with the Backpack Program, which provides food for elementary school students in Auburn on weekends when they can’t get meals through their school’s free lunch program.

Elaine Hanson saw the hard work and enthusiasm of Peru athletes through her involvement in the program.

“I got athletes to unload the trucks,” she said. “As they did it, we could have conversations about the percentage of children that are being served, why those people are in need, whether it’s generational poverty or situational poverty.”

Will Scott won 10 games in pitching Peru to the 2012 NAIA national tournament.

She said the baseball team really stepped up when help was needed.

“Through that, some of the (Backpack)

committee members have really been engaged in our baseball team, and they come to games and follow,” she said.

“What I have found right from the beginning is that the community people love to meet our students, and they’re eager to get to know them,” she said.

Athletic teams also helped with the Peru City-Wide Cleanup that the first lady and president began.

“Athletics are just part of the bigger picture here,” Elaine Hanson said. “They’re part of developing leaders for the future in Nebraska.”

252 | PART V

IT’S NO SURPRISE THAT athletic department officials speak so strongly about the importance of sports at their college. But some of the strongest advocates for athletics actually come from outside the department.

Todd Simpson, Peru State College Foundation chief executive, recognizes the importance that Bobcat athletics play in bolstering the school’s emphasis on an active, engaged student body. “Those co-curricular programs, like music and theater and sports, are incredibly important in developing overall character and personal growth,” he said. “They’re an opportunity for those students to put into action the things they’re learning in the classroom.”

History professor Spencer Davis said a sports program also helps provide a lively campus environment. “It creates the activity that a campus needs,” he said. “It’s part of college life.”

Students not involved in athletics also can benefit from the school’s sports facilities.

The Al Wheeler Activity Center has a supervised fitness center and weight room available for public use.

A Women’s Only Weights program demonstrates the athletic department’s commitment to including the entire campus.

Two days a week, the weight room is open only to women for a fitness class conducted by women who are kinesiology majors.

“They design the programs, they implement the programs,” said Kyle Ryan, professor of exercise science.

Cristina Viera was fourth nationally in digs in becoming a third-team All American in 2016.

The programs included stretching, lifting and nutrition tips. The students in charge, some of them athletes, also work up medical histories for participants and help determine goals. Encouragement is offered personally and on a Facebook page.

Tim Borchers, vice president for academic affairs, was struck by the importance of athletics at Peru State when he was interviewing for his position.

“I came from a larger school in a larger community, and we didn’t have nearly the number of people show up for football games that they do here when it’s nice and the crowd is in the football spirit,” he said. “That kind of blew me away.”

Sports, and football in particular, also help to connect Peru State College to the surrounding region, Borchers said. “You have to drive, unless you live in Peru, so you’ve got to make an effort to come to a game,” he said. “And people do. It’s the place to be on a football Saturday in this part of the state.”

PART V | 253

“Even before the Oak Bowl was renovated, people would come to Peru on Saturdays and spend hours on campus and go to the football games. It was really important to the college and the region, as were women’s basketball, volleyball, men’s basketball, baseball and softball. Southeast Nebraska became involved with the college because of athletics.”

— Stan Carpenter, chancellor of the Nebraska State College System

Erv Friesen of Nebraska City said he tries to make it to several football and basketball

“Sports participation helps with retention, because athletes do what they need to do to stay in college.”

— Bill Clemente, English professor

games each season.

“I’m a big booster of the college, and I’m not a grad,” said Friesen, former Nebraska City High School principal and retired director of the Lewis and Clark Center.

Bill Clemente credited sports with boosting diversity at a rural school such as Peru.

“Athletics plays an incredibly important role at the college,” said Clemente, an English professor. “Because of the success in boosting diversity, the school can now bring in a diverse group of students for academics as well.”

Al Urwin, a former Peru athlete and member of the Peru State College Foundation board, said athletic scholarships provide a boost to students from financially challenged families.

“For a lot of kids who might not be as good at academics, athletic scholarships get them in the door,” he said.

Urwin earned a football scholarship and became just the second person in his family to graduate from college. “That means a lot to me,” he said. “It was a way to get into school, get an education and be productive in society.”

While his late father went to his games, he took an even greater interest in Peru as a school. “Even though he was a big football fan, he was proudest of me for graduating there,” he said.

“He’d say that was the best thing that ever happened.”

The football scholarship had ripple effects in helping create yet another legacy family for Peru State College. Urwin’s sister Cheryl graduated in 1985, his son Michael in 2013 and nephew Kyle Monte de Ramos in 2016.

Sports also provide motivation to do well in the classroom.

Library Director Veronica Meier said athletes are a familiar sight in her building, “which I find thrilling.”

Clemente, who serves as a spotter for football games, said sports and academic achievement have become entwined at Peru State.

“Everything is evolving, and I’m seeing more and more on academic scholarship who are also involved in sports,” he said.

Ted Harshbarger, who has been associated with the college for four decades, said the positive impact of athletics cannot be underestimated.

“Quite honestly, in the late 1970s and in the 1990s, had we not had athletics, we would have had a drop in enrollment,” he said.

Artist Benjamin Victor’s sculpture near the Oak Bowl’s entrance was commissioned as part of the renovation.

254 | PART V

He said research also indicates that athletes tend to bring friends to the school, further assisting enrollment.

The women’s basketball team had a composite 3.277 GPA for the first semester of the 2016-17 school year.

Davis said he wished it were possible to have even more sports teams. “The financing and the balancing of men’s and women’s teams, it’s not so easy to do, but it’s very useful,” he said, adding that he’d similarly like to see more academic activities on campus.

Sports also help the school retain a strong connection with alumni. Schneider said he has been amazed by “their crazy passion about this place, about their Bobcats.”

And former athletes are among the most loyal and active alumni members.

Urwin in 2002 became a member of the Peru State Athletic Hall of Fame, along with his teammates on the 1980 football team, which finished in the NAIA Top 10. “The best thing about it was it took you back to those days when it was the most important thing in your life,” he said.

And old teammates love to see each other. “Individual honors are great, but team honors are better,” Urwin said. “It was definitely worth all of the years of hard work.”

Urwin’s loyalty to the school shows in his service on the Foundation board. Another former football player, Paul Fell of the class of 1967, is co-president of the National Alumni Association board of directors with his wife, Arlene.

Schneider said athletics’ overall impact on Peru State College cannot be underestimated.

“The renovation of the Oak Bowl was in line with other facility upgrades that had occurred on campus the past 10 or 12 years,” he said. “The quality of our facilities is as good as any small college in the region, if not the country. Peru State is becoming a destination place for a lot of high school students.”

In addition, he said, the sports programs provide a good fit for the college’s goals of essential engagement and increased prominence.

“Athletics fit very well within the overall operation of the college,” he said. “Our student athletes are very engaged in service and leadership-type activities, community outreach and mentoring of students in the area.”

And then there’s the impact of success in sports.

“Doing things the right way on the athletic fields and courts certainly enhances the reputation of the program and the institution in terms of prominence,” Schneider said.

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‘STUDENT AMBASSADORS’ Golfer Marisa Pribnow combined the best of athletics, academics and service.

Pribnow was a three-time member of the Heart of America All Conference Team and was the conference nominee for the A.O. Duer Award, which recognizes academics, character, leadership and service. In 2017, she was named a semifinalist for the Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup. “They’re student ambassadors,” Ted Harshbarger, associate athletic director, said of Peru State athletes.

“The athletes’ successes both on the field and academically have provided a lot of good publicity for the college.”

Uplifting Experiences PERU STATE COLLEGE HAS SERVED as a cultural center for southeast Nebraska and the region for a century and a half. The rich history of music, drama and oratory began as a natural result of the school’s relatively remote location. At first, the events provided entertainment and enrichment for students who might otherwise have felt isolated. But the programs also drew residents from around the region and led them to think of the hilltop as “our school.” And at the same time, new ideas and perspectives were able to radiate from campus, providing yet another means to educate.

Science professor Daryl Long, who began teaching at Peru in 1967, said the school has a long record of presenting enlightening events to be enjoyed not only by students, faculty and staff, but also by residents of the surrounding Peru State is host to “The Magic of Christmas” holiday concerts.

area. He pointed out that at one time, Peru’s auditorium was the largest indoor gathering place in southeast Nebraska.

“We need to provide really high-quality performances with our students. It’s not just for their education, but also for the area students and the folks who want to come and see a play or listen to a performance.”

— Patrick Fortney, director of Peru’s bands

“People came to Peru because it was the center of everything,” Long said. “People were used to looking up to Peru.”

Peru serves a vital cultural role as the only college in the southeast corner of Nebraska, said Tim Borchers, vice president for academic affairs. “We’re not the only game in town,” he said.

“But we’re one of the only games in town.”

Patrick Fortney, former dean of arts and sciences and director of Peru’s bands, was aware of the important service the school delivers.

He mentioned how a local resident had enjoyed a 2009 stage performance of “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams. She had seen the drama in Chicago years earlier, before it eventually moved to Broadway and became a hit.

“She was so thankful, because without us having something like that, she wouldn’t have been able to participate,” Fortney said. “And that happens all the time. We have a lot of folks who just really enjoy what we do here.”

Peru State has enriched lives across southeast Nebraska for 150 years.

Stan Carpenter, chancellor of the Nebraska State College Sysem, said the school’s impact has been profound “in the fact that it does bring people together to the theater for cultural events, speaking series, plays. There would be a gaping hole in southeast Nebraska if that institution wasn’t there.”

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LIKE A RINGING REMINDER of the oratory of William Jennings Bryan and the readings of John Neihardt, a January 2011 presentation in the Distinguished Speaker Series proved the impact of speaking events on campus.

Minnijean Brown Trickey, one of the “Little Rock Nine” who had integrated Central High School in Arkansas in 1957, came to Peru to relate her experience. In the audience was Wanda Jones of Falls City, who had been a senior and a fellow student at Little Rock Central at the time.

Jones herself had not taunted anyone, but after Trickey’s speech she felt compelled to apologize publicly for her silence more than a half-century earlier. The two women, who had never met, embraced and wept. Hundreds stood and applauded.

“Tears scalded down my face,” Trickey said after the event. “I had no idea that I would be so touched. We think we have all that behind us and we’re fine, but we were so wounded by that whole experience (in Little Rock).”

Nine black students had entered the previously all-white Little Rock school three years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision, Brown v. Board of Education. President Dwight Eisenhower eventually ordered 1,200 U.S. troops to escort the black students and protect them.

Even after the crisis eased, some white students made life difficult.

Trickey recalled that students threw soup on her in the cafeteria. She at one point retaliated by dumping a tray that included a bowl of chili on a student. She was suspended, then later expelled for calling a tormenter “white trash.”

The Distinguished Speaker Series The series, which began in 2010, builds upon Peru’s longstanding cultural role in southeast Nebraska. The speakers also spend time on campus and in the surrounding communities.

Erv Friesen, former Nebraska City principal and retired director of the Lewis and Clark Center, said people in the surrounding area enjoy the speaker series.

“Sometimes people think they have to go to Lincoln or places like that to hear top-notch speakers,” he said. “But the speakers who come to the college are very beneficial.”

Peru’s guests have included: 2010-11 • • • •

Frank Meeink: Former skinhead fighting prejudice Minnijean Brown Trickey: “Little Rock Nine” member Arun Gandhi: Mahatma Ghandi’s grandson Elane Norych Geller: Holocaust survivor

2011-12 • Dennis Richardson: Scientist, humanitarian • Sonia Nazario: Journalist tackling social issues • Ralph Nader: Political activist, author

2012-13 • Somaly Mam: Crusader against sex trafficking • Shirin Ebadi: Iranian human rights advocate, winner of 2003 Nobel Peace Prize

2013-14 • Kohl Crecilius: Social capitalist • Jessica Jackley: Microloan proponent

2014-15 • JB Bernstein: Sports marketing specialist • Kamau Bell: Socio-political comedian

2015-16 • Wes Moore: Youth advocate, author

2016-17 Arun Gandhi with Peru President Dan Hanson in 2011.

• Amy Van Dyken: Olympian paralyzed in an accident • Vijay Gupta: Scientist, violinist and prodigy

Wanda Jones had witnessed the cafeteria incident.

“The big problem,” Jones said, “was the silence that had taken place. No one had spoken up in Minnijean’s defense. I was silent.

I didn’t even think of standing up. We were told by teachers and officials to stay quiet and mind our own business.”

Trickey emphasized the importance of not staying silent in the face of injustice. “That, indeed, is what most of the kids did,” she recalled.

“Who do you support when you stand by and do nothing?”

Jones said that when she read that her former schoolmate would be speaking at Peru State, she knew she had to attend.

She stood up in the Auditorium and quoted the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: “The time is always right to do what is right.”

That point wasn’t lost on Peru senior Caroline Keenan, who escorted Trickey on campus.

“To meet this woman who changed history when she was younger than I am now was just incredible,” Keenan said. “When she received that apology, it was like witnessing history – fascinating, Jones’ public apology to Trickey (right) stunned the audience at the Peru Auditorium in 2011. “Then they started to realize they were witnessing something unique, even with historical significance,” President Dan Hanson said.

heart-wrenching and so moving.”

“Something like this was magical,” Jones said. “There was peace for all of us.”

THEATER BEGAN AT PERU almost from the moment the school’s doors opened.

Members of the Philomathean Society, formed in just the second year of Peru State Normal, began providing readings, dialogues, comedies and pantomimes at college events in drawing rooms and parlors even before they had a stage on which to perform.

Even the Peru State Normal Cadets put on dramatic presentations, including “The Spy of Atlanta.” Finally, theater was officially established on campus with the beginning of the Peru Dramatic Club, which was one of Nebraska’s earliest dramatic organizations when it performed “Land of the Heart’s Desire” in 1908.

By the 1930s, Peru audiences were able to enjoy productions by 1919 grad Ellsworth Prouty Conkle, who had several of his plays performed on Broadway before he settled into teaching at the Universities of Iowa and Texas. Among his students was Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tennessee Williams, who wrote “The Glass Menagerie.”

Later, directors such as Royal Eckert brought innovative performances to Peru State audiences. The theater program went dormant on the hilltop in the 1990s, but it has sprung back to life.

Professor Mark Klemetsrud helped lay the groundwork for its return with his work.

Sadly, he died in the spring of 2009, before live theater officially returned that fall after an absence of about a decade.

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It was obvious that live theater had been missed. Almost 400 people attended “The Woman in Black,” a Gothic horror tale, during Homecoming weekend of 2009.

The Peru Theatre Company, infused with that support, quickly returned to the high standards of past years. The program was honored in 2012 at the Region V Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, which featured competition among 3,000 students from 77 colleges and universities in Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota and South Dakota. Director Josh Young and student performers won a certificate of merit for their ensemble efforts in “Marat/Sade,” and other students were honored for their individual work.

Beyond entertainment, Peru State theater productions have provided a medium for expression of thought-provoking ideas.

“A Thousand Cranes,” a student-directed play, told the emotional story of a 12-year-old Japanese girl diagnosed with leukemia caused by the radiation after the bombing of Hiroshima. Her friend tells her this story: “If a sick person folds a thousand cranes, the gods will grant her wish of being healthy.”

Peru State College Foundation Chief Executive Todd Simpson said the school’s cultural impact has been felt regionally. “The one-acts and our Distinguished Speaker Series are a wonderful opportunity for people from southeast Nebraska,” he said.

The importance of stage performance was reinforced in 2016 when the school announced it was adding a theater minor to its academic offerings. Peru emphasized in its announcement the impact on southeast Nebraska, which has no other collegiate or professional

The Peru Theatre Company presented the Tony Award-winning comedy “God of Carnage” in 2016.

theater companies.

The school at one time had a theater major, and former Arts and Sciences Dean Patrick Fortney was pleased to have dramatic arts on the rebound at Peru State. His father, Larry, was the longtime drama director at Omaha Westside High School and directed and acted in Omaha theater productions.

“The minor is the first step on the road back,” Fortney said.

The school’s renovation of the Auditorium will only enhance Peru’s ability to reach beyond campus. “The improved facility will allow for larger contests and performances, and it will attract more contests and other regional opportunities to southeast Nebraska and the Peru State campus,” Simpson said. “More space will allow faculty to plan additional performances, while concerts, speakers and comedians also will be able to utilize the facility to better inform, persuade and entertain our students, alumni and all of southeast Nebraska.”

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PERU STATE COLLEGE STUDENTS and instructors displaying their artistic talents today at the A.V. Larson Building are following a path laid out more than a century ago.

Pen and pencil drawings and blackboard sketches were displayed on the third floor of Normal Hall at the end of the 19th century. Norma Diddel, longtime art professor, directed impressive exhibits on campus from the 1930s to the 1960s, with a special emphasis on sculpture.

Leland Sherwood and Ken Anderson continued the tradition of making artwork a lure for visitors to campus.

Anderson, who also served as curator of the Peru State Art Gallery at the A.V. Larson

“I see people from the community attending these shows, as well as alumni. It’s a great way to reconnect to campus.”

— Sheli Petersen, art instructor

Building, presented “A Retrospective (More or Less)” in 2016 before his retirement after 32 years at the school.

“As a working artist and educator for 30-plus years, I have long been aware that what I do as an artist directly impacts, in one way or another, my students,” he said.

Art instructor Sheli Petersen said the impact of Peru State art is significant beyond the classroom, serving as a “bridge builder” for southeast Nebraska.

Petersen, who in 2015 was honored at the 2015 American Institute of Graphic Arts Nebraska Show for her illustrations in the children’s books The Scarf and The Nest, has shown her own work both on and off campus. An exhibit in Brownville had an extended stay.

“People in the community just really responded, which made it more enjoyable,” she said.

In addition to the exhibits at the A.V. Larson Building, the Sherwood Art Gallery in the upper level of the Student Center houses original watercolors by the late Sherwood. And sculptures grace the Campus of a Thousand Oaks as well.

But for many, the main attraction is the work of students. All graduating art majors present a “senior show” to display their creations from their college years.

Students enjoy the comments they receive and can sell pieces from their exhibition if they choose.

“We put a lot of time into our pieces, and we are ready to show them off,” said

Jenny Trapp, class of 2014, presented her work at a senior art show in 2013.

2012 graduate Lindsay Dannelly.

In addition, area residents have occasionally been able to display their own

work. In 2013, 96-year-old Anna May Whitington of Nemaha County exhibited her sewing.

The overall impact is clear, as the Peru State College campus remains a major draw for southeast Nebraskans who love art.

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Patrick Fortney (right), Peru State’s former director of bands, said the college doesn’t copy what’s done at big universities. “We can’t be a mini-college trying to do what they do,” he said. “What we need to do is be inventive.”

MUSIC HAS SENT SPIRITS SOARING on the Peru hilltop since the early days of the Nebraska State Normal School.

“Parents anxious to give their children a thorough musical education will find superior advantages,” the school promised in its 1870 class catalog, which listed both vocal and instrumental instruction. Recitals would showcase what the students had learned.

Full-fledged concerts became possible when the auditorium was built in the chapel annex of Normal Hall in the 1880s, about the same time the school’s band was forming – the state’s second oldest band after the University of Nebraska. An enlarged auditorium that opened in the 1920s allowed even bigger audiences to attend, and it came just as automobile travel was allowing people to come from greater distances.

By the 1960s, rock concerts became part of the campus scene, first with bands from the local and regional scene and later with nationally known artists such as Jim Croce, Helen Reddy, Cheap Trick and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.

The hill is still alive with the sound of music. Peru State College’s Department of Music provides many opportunities for students to perform – and for the campus and surrounding area to benefit. The concert choir and show choir are available for vocalists, with concert band, jazz band and woodwind, brass and percussion ensembles for instrumentalists.

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And there’s still room for national acts such as Florida Georgia Line, which performed at Peru State in 2013 just days after winning the “new artist of the year” award at the Academy

“Our musical and choral programs are fantastic, and they give great opportunities for our students to be involved.”

—Todd Simpson, Peru State College Foundation CEO

of Country Music Awards.

Campus events have a special way of drawing audiences.

The late Thomas Ediger in 1990 began the Piano Extravaganza, which in recent years

Thomas Ediger’s Piano Extravaganzas provided entertainment and instruction for more than 20 years.

brought more than 200 pianists from Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas to campus for rehearsals culminating in a final performance featuring 30 pianists simultaneously playing 15 pianos. “He willed it into being,” Fortney said.

The school’s Prestige Show Choir regularly draws crowds to campus and in 2015 was selected to perform at the National Show Choir Championship Series in Branson, Missouri.

Prestige and the school’s Vocal Studio group in 2016 presented “An Evening of Musical Theatre” that showcased students’ musical talent for the community. “This is a great avenue for us to showcase our broad musical talents in a way that caters both to our audience and to our student performers,” said Jacob Bartlett, the music professor who directed the show.

Peru State College’s Prestige Show Choir performs and plays host to high school choirs at an annual event on campus.

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Concerts on the Peru State College campus are a drawing card for commmunity residents.

Erv Friesen of Nebraska City said part of the appeal of the campus performances is area residents’ personal connection to the students and the instructors involved.

The Foundation’s Simpson said Peru’s singers shine especially brightly when they perform for various board meetings held on campus.

“It’s pretty darn good when you hear from a board member that our groups give the best shows,” he said. “Of all the entertainment at all the board meetings, Peru State’s is always anticipated. That makes me proud.”

Peru’s student instrumentalists are just as impressive in their performances with the college’s band and the Hoyt Street Jazz Ensemble. They share music not only at Peru, but in local communities and on trips as far away as Kansas City and Memphis.

Former director Pat Fortney said the school benefits from its performances away from campus. “Just getting the name out of Peru State College with something positive like a musical performance or a theater performance helps people understand that we have quality here,” he said. “Because of that interaction, they may actually come to the campus to see a performance.”

He said appearances at local schools also provide another tool in student recruitment.

Peru State First Lady Elaine Hanson is amazed by music’s ability to draw people to campus.

“It brings in community members,” she said of the concerts. “Our students have done amazing things. I just smile through them.”

Area residents agree.

“I feel like you don’t need to go to the big city to find good programming,” Friesen said.

Add it all up, and the school’s contributions to the culture of southeast Nebraska could not be more powerful.

“Things are on the upswing,” Fortney said, pointing to renovations to the Auditorium and to the Jindra Fine Arts Building, which features a theater, a recording studio and large choir and band rooms, all with top-notch acoustics.

“So it’s a natural trajectory, a rebirth of what was, and hopefully will continue to blossom,” he said. “I almost want to call it a renaissance of the arts at Peru State College.”

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“I almost have cramps in my face from smiling, because I’m just so proud of our students.”

— First Lady Elaine Hanson, describing Peru State College musical performances

A Magnet for Young Minds EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES ON THE Campus of a Thousand Oaks are not confined to college students.

Teacher training in the 19th century established that the sound of young voices would be

“Kids come to the college for so many different events over the course of the year.

It’s quite common to see school buses here in large numbers and large numbers of high school students or younger walking around campus.”

— Tim Borchers, vice president for academic affairs

part of life on the Peru hilltop. The opening of the T.J. Majors Training School would further establish campus as a place for children in the 20th century, while music, oratory, theater and sports – often enhanced through competition – would make Peru a popular location for grade school and high school students from throughout the surrounding region.

Events and programs today continue to make Peru State College a destination for new generations of young students and to offer similar experiences outside campus as well.

The Peru State Education Association hosts hundreds of children from area schools and day cares to the Dr. Seuss Birthday Bash, which features faculty, staff and students performing some of the popular children’s books each March.

“Our teacher candidates enjoy hosting this event each spring because it is an opportunity for them to promote the importance of reading,” said Judith Ruskamp, associate professor of education. “They also gain valuable, authentic experience working with students as they continue to develop their knowledge and skills related to teaching in the classroom.”

English professor Bill Clemente and retired faculty member Chet Harper provide one of the favorite moments when they perform Green Eggs and Ham. “I enjoy working with youngsters and, well, making a more obvious fool of myself,” Clemente said. “After all, how often does one have a good excuse to dye one’s hair green?”

In addition to entertainment, the program reinforces the school’s engagement with the area surrounding campus. “These programs help excite youngsters’ interest in reading, writing and simply observing what goes on in their own backyards,” Clemente said. “The interactions also serve to introduce youngsters and others to Peru State.”

The outreach doesn’t end on campus.

Clemente and Harper have taken their act on the road, performing at Tarkio Elementary School across the river in Missouri for more than a decade. The children aren’t the only beneficiaries of the event. “Sharing with the

Thousands of area children have enjoyed performances by Bill Clemente at the Dr. Seuss Birthday Bash.

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young also bolsters my enthusiasm for what I do,” Clemente said.

Peru adopted a kindergarten class at Field Club School in Omaha as part of a program to introduce youngsters to the idea of attending college.

THE OUTREACH TO YOUNGSTERS doesn’t stop at the campus boundaries. Faculty and students also venture into surrounding communities on missions of education and enrichment.

Peru State College faculty and students in 2015 traveled to the Union Pacific Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs as part of a class to prepare lessons and develop the skills they would need to begin student teaching.

Elizabeth Chamberlin, an education major, had fourth-graders from Rue and Bloomer Elementary Schools in Council Bluffs grab a slip of paper off hoops used to relay railroad messages to moving trains.

“You’ve got to be ready for that train to come,” Chamberlin told the students as they stood in line.

“They’ll remember that more than just sitting and listening to a lecture,” she said later.

“We’re learning how to be teachers. This is an opportunity for us to get real-world experience with students.”

The Peru students also helped the youngsters participate in the interactive exhibits at the museum and pick up written material that would allow them to learn more about the history of railroads. A total of 144 elementary students participated.

Education professor Anthony Citrin, who organized the trip, showed his personal collection of pocket watches during a presentation on the importance of standard time.

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The elementary students were then asked to draw their own clocks and adjust the arms to show different times, a skill that’s fading in a digital world.

“We learned that it’s better to use a pocket watch than the sun dial because a cloud could be covering the sun,” said fourth-grader Teairra Cook of the discussion about how the railroad timepieces were new technology at the time.

Citrin also showed how cheap watches had lost time – as much as 45 minutes since being set the previous day – which could cause a disaster when scheduling multiple trains for the same section of track.

“The men who worked in railroads couldn’t afford (watches),” Citrin said, adding that railroads often leased them to their employees. “Before they had pocket watches, trains used to crash all the time.”

Peru students said the trip helped them gain insight into how to educate younger students.

SOCIAL STUDIES FAIR AT PERU Professor of Education Anthony Citrin has helped direct Peru State’s Social Studies Fair on campus. Education students work with sixth-graders on projects for six weeks prior to the event.

“It’s better to overplan,” Chamberlin said of her preparation. “It helped things go smoothly.

Time moves a lot quicker than you think it does.”

The Peru students left the lesson plans to be used by future groups who visited the museum, said Ellie Kunkel, dean of education. “They used our ideas to continue the educational process,” she said.

Younger children found something to cheer about at camp in the Al Wheeler Activity Center.

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“It’s a good idea for high school kids to see what is expected of them in college,” said Kelsey Monahan, who directed a sports camp in 2014.

PERU STATE COLLEGE ATHLETICS also serves as a magnet for younger students.

The college provides one-on-one attention for young athletes throughout the summer and some opportunities during the school year.

Athletic Director and Football Coach Steve Schneider said the attendees are “exposed to sport-specific strategies and will have the chance to improve their individual skills.”

“Our updated facilities and highly competent coaching staffs allow for the best experience possible for our campers,” he said.

James Matteen of Auburn was enthusiastic about his time at a Peru basketball camp in 2014.

“They teach you a lot of new things,” he said. “They give you more things to do at home to make you a better player.”

He said he learned to do a Euro step, in which a player takes a step in one direction and then quickly takes a second step in another direction on the way to a layup.

James and his sister, Ella, said they went to camp for fun, but came away more prepared to be team leaders. In addition to sports instruction, coaches also share NAIA Champions of Character values each day at camp.

“It’s helped me improve on stuff so I can help make my team better,” James said.

The youngsters especially enjoyed being able to work with Peru State College athletes.

“It was kind of cool because they made it a long ways and can teach me things that they already know,” Ella said.

“Our staff strives to provide all campers an outstanding experience,” said Brenda Lutz, athletics project director. “It is truly a joy to watch the coaches and staff build a growing desire for the game.”

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“I’ve been to Peru cheer camp, softball camp and basketball camp for two years.

I learned how to do a drop-step.

It’s when you’re a post, and there’s someone behind you. You kind of push them out of the way and do a layup.”

— Ella Matteen, Auburn student

SARA CROOK HAS BEEN DIRECTING History Day at Peru State College since 1985, and the event has grown to include more than 300 students presenting around 200 different research topics.

More than 60 judges review entries from across the state in a junior division for

CLOSE TIES TO THE AREA

grades 6-8 and a senior

Lisa Parriott, instructor of computer and management information systems, graduated from Peru State College and comes from a family that has been in Peru since 1865 and still owns the original family farm.

Her family shares more than 100 years of history with Peru State, with the first Parriott graduating in 1895.

Peru students serve as

division for grades 9-12. assistants to the judges, further enhancing the value of the event, which serves as district competition as part of National History Day. The 32nd annual competition in 2016

Reagan Petersen of Syracuse presented her exhibit, “The Great Railroad Strike of 1877,” at History Day in 2014.

focused on the national theme “Exploration, Encounter, Exchange in History.” Winning entries tackled such topics as orphan trains, the Tuskegee airmen of World War II, Atlas missiles in Nebraska, the Great Chicago Fire and “unforgettable moments of 1968.”

“The diversity of topics is what always impresses me,” Crook said. “The judges have commented on how creative some students were in their selection of a topic for their entry.”

The top four winners in each category of the contest are eligible to compete at state in Lincoln, with the state winners qualifying for the national contest in Washington, D.C. “It’s an opportunity to meet kids from other places, an opportunity to compete,” said retired English professor Dan Holtz.

Oliver Borchers-Williams, son of Tim Borchers, was one of the History Day winners at Peru with a web presentation on American mid-century art, a topic of interest to him. “He learned something that he wouldn’t have learned otherwise,” said Borchers, vice president for academic affairs. “He didn’t have to do that, but doing it enhanced his education.”

He has seen the same results from math competition on campus. “These are kids that get up early in some cases and come to school to work math problems before the day starts,” Borchers said. “So it adds to the learning of the high school students.”

Tradition is part of the appeal. Peru State’s high school business contest and show choir festival began more than four decades ago, and the Greater Southeast Nebraska Mathematics Challenge has been on campus for more than two decades.

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“It is an honor to bring so many students to Peru State to compete,” said Lisa Parriott, who took over as the business contest director from Judy Grotrian in 2016.

Winners received a $500 tuition scholarship for on-campus classes at Peru. The school typically receives participants from as far away as 100 miles for such events, and the students gain a valuable experience.

“The self-serving thing that we get out of it is that kids come here and see a college that they might not have even considered to come to,” Borchers said. “So it’s recruiting, but it’s also adding to the education that students are getting from their schools.”

Danny Hayes has a unique perspective on the youth activities at Peru State College.

“As a kid, we’d be at Peru all the time,” said Hayes, who now teaches criminal justice at the school. “My kids come to those events now, which is awesome, whether it’s Dr. Seuss or History Day.” Hayes, who grew up in Brownville, recalled attending Bobcat sports camps and participating in Cub Scout outings and middle-school track meets on campus.

Peru State impressed him at an early age.

“It did have kind of a grand appeal as a young kid,” he said. “Then as you get older, you understand there are colleges all over the place, but this one just has a special feeling.

It’s more of a community, rather than just an institution.”

BRAINY IDEA Education professor Gina Bittner founded “Brain Quest” in 2006, her first semester at Peru State. “Brain Quest is a great opportunity for our teacher candidates to gain first-hand teaching experience with meeting students’ needs in math and science.”

Brain Quest activities, which promote hands-on engagement in math and science for third graders, are hosted by professors Gina Bittner and Darolyn Seay.

Reaching the World Beyond PERU STATE COLLEGE’S DESIRE TO HELP the community beyond campus is rooted deeply. Students in the 19th century collected money for relief efforts. They raised funds for the Red Cross, Salvation Army and Liberty Bonds during World War I. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, women gave up corsages for the 1942 spring formal so their dates could spend their money on relief drives and war bonds. Students in the 1970s sponsored a “hootenanny” to raise money for the United Fund and the American Cancer Society.

An effort that began in 2013 reinforced a legacy of helping others and advanced the school’s commitment to essential engagement. Rachel Henry, class of 2015, applied for a grant for the Backpack Program, which provides food for students on weekends when they can’t get meals through their school’s free lunch program.

“I wrote it thinking that I would donate the money to the Backpack Program, hold a food drive and make some fliers,” she said.

Rachel Henry, who helped create Feeding 44, coordinated volunteers to unload trucks on the second Friday of each month and then to help people carry the food to their cars.

But at about the same time, an official of the Lincoln Food Bank contacted Peru President

Dan Hanson about needing a mobile distribution site. The group had identified Nemaha County as the most “food insecure” county in the Food Bank’s 16-county region. Henry soon found herself coordinating a monthly distribution of food for needy families in Nemaha County that involved Peru State, the Food Bank and Catholic Social Services of Southeast Nebraska.

“It was stressful getting started because it had never been done before here,” she said.

“I was basically new to getting a location, getting my volunteers, making sure there weren’t any scheduling conflicts and so on.”

Her idea suddenly grew into something more as she created a marketing strategy for Feeding 44, referring to the number on Nemaha County’s license plates.

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“Rachel’s enthusiasm for engaging the community is unparalleled,” said Kyle Ryan, professor of exercise science, who assisted in the grant process.

Julie Taylor-Costello, director of the Center for Engaged Learning, served as advisor for the project.

“That gave a student an opportunity – and still gives students an opportunity – to learn logistics, learn advertising, and really kind of figure out what it means to be part of a community that’s bigger than them,” she said. “So engagement can be in the classroom, but it can be outside the classroom.”

The Center for Engaged Learning was originated to assist such projects, making certain that Peru State College’s vision of “student achievement through engagement” is more than just a slogan.

The center creates and assists partnerships between students and staff and the community to provide direct learning experiences.

Student involvement has made Feeding 44 work.

“Every month we ask for volunteers,” Taylor-Costello said. “We get athletes, we get student organizations, we get community members.”

Volunteers coordinate the effort, help unload trucks from the Lincoln Food Bank and distribute the food, frequently at the Al Wheeler Activity Center.

“The Feeding 44 initiative taught me a lot about civic involvement and reaching out to faculty and administrators,” Henry said. “Working closely with community members and service agencies to help people struggling to feed their families is incredibly rewarding.”

While Henry has graduated, her work continues to produce results. Nemaha County is no longer the Lincoln Food Bank’s most food-insecure county, Taylor-Costello said, and the effort has expanded to other counties in the region.

“It has grown to become one of those things that when we make changes, people complain because they want to be there,” she said. “Some want to be able to volunteer, and some want to come and receive the food.”

The Lincoln Food Bank has gone from distributing 26,036 pounds of food in Nemaha County in 2012 to 81,082 in 2016 with the help of Feeding 44.

The program also has encouraged further student engagement.

While the distribution had been successful from the beginning, Taylor-Costello and art professor Sheli Petersen began a discussion of how signs would help sort out offerings into food groups and provide more effective communication to children and to people with disabilities.

Taylor-Costello presented the question to Petersen’s design studio class.

“We met with Julie and got an understanding of her needs,” Petersen said.

The students researched food pantries, developed concepts and made an in-class presentation. And they also took part in the Feeding 44 distribution. Cameron Milke, a graphic design major, had the strongest presentation and was chosen to lead, with Serena Albertson, Shandi Strawhacker and Nita Whitney assisting with illustrations.

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“They teach more than just what’s in the books, they really teach the kids about life and the importance of giving back, civic duty.

It’s a very special place.”

— Stan Carpenter, chancellor of the Nebraska State College System

INVOLVEMENT GREW OUT OF CLASSROOM Rotoract, the student partner for the Rotary Club, has been among the most actively involved groups at Peru State College.

Ellie Kunkel, dean of the School of Education, said it was noteworthy that Peru’s Rotoract chapter evolved from a class. Two of the students contacted First Lady Elaine Hanson for help in getting the chapter started, and she serves as co-advisor.

Among Rotoract’s projects was “Pumpkin Day” at the Auburn Community Gardens, which won a community development award from the city’s Chamber of Commerce.

They presented their proposals to their “client,” Taylor-Costello, and the signage became part of Feeding 44.

Taylor-Costello said she had found ideas for potential projects waiting for her when the Center for Engaged Learning was created in 2012. “There were a lot of organizations that were very excited,” she said. “So they were just coming out of the woodwork.”

In fact, the number of ideas initially outpaced the number of faculty available to take on the projects.

“Now we have faculty on campus who are excited about doing anything they can to help the community,” she said.

Peru State College’s students have embraced the interwoven goals of learning and helping.

The educational component prepares them for life after graduation.

“Engagement really is, in simple terms, giving students real-world experiences so that when they interview for grad school or a job or even an internship, they have the ability to say, ‘I didn’t just take a research class, I actually conducted my own research study,’ ” Taylor-Costello said. “Or, ‘I didn’t just learn about a marketing plan, I created a marketing plan. And I did it for a customer, and I had a client. I had to learn everything from beginning to end.’ ” The added benefit comes when such projects can help beyond the hilltop.

“The ideal outcome would be to get students to realize that the world is bigger than them and that if they really want to, they can find a way to have an impact,” Taylor-Costello said.

More than 100 3- and 4-year-olds from area day cares enjoyed picking and decorating pumpkins, playing games and riding in wagons.

“I thought that was neat how that grew out of a course,” Kunkel said. “And it makes the students feel so good about what they’re doing.”

“We’re always going to have students who want to do things,” said Julie Taylor-Costello (above, center).

“I really need to be attuned to those students and say, ‘What is it you need from this department?’ ”

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THE CHANCE INITIATIVE, created

by Kyle Ryan, impacts the region at perhaps the most important level: children.

The initiative, which he co-directs with his wife, business professor Sheri GrotrianRyan, targets rural childhood obesity with after-school exercise and nutrition education at the elementary school.

“We want to modify their habits,” said Ryan, a professor of exercise science.

“By the time kids get to high school, their habits are harder to turn around.”

The program, which originated in Auburn and expanded to Nebraska City in the fall of 2016, aims to get participants engaged in 150 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous physical activity, he said.

CHANCE has received funding from Youth Serve America, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Nebraska, Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign and the Rural Futures Institute. It has received awards

Jamie Theye in 2013 was named a Newman Civic Fellow, a national award for students who demonstrate a personal commitment to solving community challenges. Theye (on left, with Sheri Grotrian-Ryan) said the CHANCE Initiative “opened my eyes to how important it is to start working to offset our country’s obesity epidemic.”

from the Nebraska Campus Compact and the Auburn Chamber of Commerce.

Peru students, particularly those in education, are exposed to students and parents with a wide range of needs and expectations. Those in applied exercise science class might put to work what they’ve learned about strength and conditioning.

And then there’s real-life experience.

“They have a chance to witness or experience what it’s like to go into the community and have something planned and have that planning go right out the window,” Ryan said.

“They might have a structured game for kids, and all of a sudden the kids just want to play tag for 30 minutes. So it’s finding out what the reality is in a community and a situation and being adaptable and flexible,” he said. “And at the same time be able to teach.”

Ryan said that while children are the ultimate beneficiary of exercise and nutrition instruction, the program typifies how the engagement process at Peru State involves the college’s students directly with the region.

“It’s less about what I want and more about the partnership between the student and the community member,” Ryan said. “Really, it’s how can we best serve the institution and serve the public.”

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“The community partners are the ones who open their doors, who let us as an institution provide an opportunity for our students to make a difference, to gain some practical experience.”

— Kyle Ryan, professor of exercise science

Peru State President Dan Hanson helped shoulder the load in the sandbagging effort during the 2011 flood.

SERVICE CAN TAKE MONTHS of planning. Or it can just happen.

Peru State College sprang into action when the Missouri River spilled over its banks once again in 2011. The school’s 150 years have been marked by a number of such emergencies – and the same number of responses.

Extreme rainfall and snowmelt from Montana in 2011 unleashed a vast volume of water – 20 percent more than the Missouri River dams were designed to handle. Flooding lasted five months and caused billions of dollars in damage. In Peru, residents went to work to fortify levees and stack sandbags to protect wells and water treatment plants.

Campus served as a refuge from late June until the end of July for those affected by the flooding in southeast Nebraska and southwest Iowa. The school partnered with the Red Cross to establish a shelter that would serve flood victims. Shelter and meals were provided for more than 200 people at Peru dorms during the summer. Among those served were members of the National Guard, Cooper Nuclear Power Station employees and even some residents of Peru.

“While we couldn’t take away the devastation experienced by flood victims, we hope they felt a sense of relief in knowing that the Red Cross could take care of their needs here,” First Lady Elaine Hanson said.

Mary Goebel-Lundholm, director of the Nebraska Business Development Center in Auburn during the flooding and professor of business, said area businesses struggled with fewer customers and lower revenue because of the disaster.

“In response, the business development center made itself available to help in any way it could,” she said. “The biggest event was a conference of business leaders to discuss how to improve traffic through Nebraska City, both attracting more customers traveling on U.S. 75 and attracting previous customers back.”

Such efforts are part of the process of solidifying Peru State’s role in southeast Nebraska.

“Service creates the sense that we’re all in this together,” Elaine Hanson said. “It builds community.”

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SERVICE FOR PERU STATE COLLEGE STUDENTS can be as complicated as setting up a food-distribution network for financially strapped residents of southeast Nebraska. Or it can be as easy as picking up trash. Students, along with faculty and staff, have offered willing hands and strong backs to community improvement efforts. More than 130 members of the college community helped remove 95 truckloads of trash in the Peru City-Wide Cleanup in the spring of 2016. Similar efforts have taken place in other communities.

Peru’s residents were invited to put irregular items, such as mattresses and furniture, on the curb to be hauled away. Students also worked on planters and garden areas and picked up litter.

“The efforts are evidenced by the many truckloads of trash collected and the large number of students who participate each year,” said Elaine Hanson. “It’s heartwarming to see large numbers of students accompanied by coaches, faculty and staff engage in cleaning up the streets and alleys of Peru.”

Students and staff also have participated in the cleanup at Governor Furnas Arboretum in Brownville and other similar efforts. The First Lady said an added benefit of the arboretum work was that the students learned about trees and plants while pitching in.

“The Peru students did a fantastic job,” said John Lauber of Brownville.

Ruth Keene, former chair of the Brownville Fine Arts Association, said, “We got so much more done than we ever have before, and they were so thoughtful if you asked them to help you out.”

THE FIRST LADY OF SERVICE Service is a profession for First Lady Elaine Hanson.

Before coming to Peru State, she twice was named by Iowa governors to chair the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service.

She also was director of RSVP of North Central Iowa, a national service program sponsored

by Waldorf College that serves four counties in north central Iowa.

At Peru, her schedule is filled with assignments for civic, charitable and economic development organizations.

“Relationships are formed and communities strengthened when students join community members through service projects,” she said. “It helps break down barriers and stereotypes.”

Haley Fleek of Omaha and Brenna Parry of Schuyler made valentines to send to veterans as part of the Peru Individual Leaders of Today (PILOT) program.

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PERU STATE COLLEGE WAS BUILT on a hilltop that provided a view stretching far beyond the Campus of a Thousand Oaks. The school has expanded that vision in its continuing offers of educational opportunities abroad. A human sciences/art/history trip in 2016, for example, featured stops in London, Amsterdam and Paris.

The Center for Engaged Learning has combined education and service during trips to the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. Julie Taylor-Costello said the educational component begins when the students learn about the country they will visit. “A lot of our students have never been out of the United States,” she said. “And every trip, I’ve had students who have never even been on an airplane.”

International field service classes help prepare students, who do their own research on the history, politics and culture of the destination.

Independent study is available to those who have completed their requirements and have a specific project or research topic they wish to pursue.

“They have to do that first, and then when we go on the trip they utilize those things they learned,” Taylor-Costello said.

For example, the students discovered that Dominicans are very conservative when it comes to clothing and had to plan carefully when packing.

Skylar Albers (above), class of 2016, found friends in the Dominican Republic. Ellen Larsen, class of 2015, called it a “once in a lifetime” trip.

The learning continues on the trip. Students are able to use their foreign language skills, and education majors in particular benefit from working with people who either don’t know English or struggle with it.

“I had the time of my life traveling, learning about a new culture, learning a language, and meeting so many new people,” said Brooke Earnest, an academic advisor with the School of Professional Studies who took part as a student.

“I had never traveled outside of the States, so this whole experience was brand new to me,” she said.

The trips also allow for 35 to 45 hours of service, planned after meeting with nonprofit agencies. “They know where the help is needed,” Taylor-Costello said.

Peru State students have helped at an environmental school and a one-room school in a remote village and have planted sustainable erosion-prevention systems.

One particularly rewarding project was helping villagers learn how to teach their children. One difficulty was getting the educational process to continue when school only lasted for half the day. Peru students went to work on a solution.

“They created a notebook in Spanish on ideas that parents could do with their kids to help them learn, and the kids then could help the parents learn,” Taylor-Costello said. “They could keep school going throughout the day.”

Peru State College students worked on sustainable erosion-prevention systems in the Dominican Republic.

Earnest said the experience helped in other ways as well.

“The women of the Dominican Republic don’t do hard labor, and as American women we came in doing what only the men do,” she said. “It felt good to make an impact and help change a stereotype and prove that women can do just as much as the men.”

The trips have provided a rare combination of education, service and eye-opening cultural experience. “This avenue has created some opportunities for students that maybe they wouldn’t have had,” Taylor-Costello said. “And for a small public state school, it’s important that students not just go from the residence halls to class.”

The Peru State College Foundation is happy to help fund the cost of trips abroad.

“Either the students would have to pay for that, or they wouldn’t get to have that experience,” said Foundation Chief Executive Todd Simpson. “The key in any college environment is for the students to have a broad educational experience, and travel has a huge impact on that.”

Taylor-Costello said the students who have gone abroad have returned to tell her how the experience transformed their lives.

“Those students are looking to teach overseas, are looking to study abroad, or are looking at something way bigger than they would have,” she said. “That to me is success: When I know that students now know that the world is bigger than them, and they want to contribute.”

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An Economic Engine FOR ALL OF THE IMPORTANT ROLES that Peru State College plays in southeast Nebraska, one might be most overlooked. The school is an economic engine for the region with an $86 million financial impact each year on the area and is the second-largest employer in a five-county region.

Kim Beger, Auburn city treasurer and a member of the Auburn Development Council, said the region’s communities and businesses can feel Peru’s impact.

“The faculty live in our area and join our community boards,” she said. “The students come to Auburn to shop and eat, and some of them work in Auburn.”

Erv Friesen, former Nebraska City High School principal and retired director of the Lewis and Clark Center, said one of Peru’s major economic impacts can be found in the region’s workforce.

“The number of teachers in southeast Nebraska who were trained at Peru State College is huge,” he said.

That extends to other employment as well.

“Many times people from southeast Nebraska have gone The region’s communities and businesses feel Peru’s impact.

to school there and chosen to stay and give back,” he said.

Sheri Grotrian-Ryan of the

School of Professional Studies agreed that the Peru State alumni who choose to stay in the region contribute to a healthy economy.

“It’s a positive impact that you can’t necessarily put a dollar figure on,” she said. “But it definitely speaks volumes of the history and tradition of the college.”

Jane and Randel Smith, who run the River Inn Resort in Brownville, can see the economic impact when their rooms are full during Homecoming and commencement weekends.

But Jane Smith said President Dan and First Lady Elaine Hanson have made the effect even greater with their efforts to have the school engage with the region.

“Their outreach is not just Peru but area-wide,” she said. “Their influence extends way beyond the campus at Peru.”

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“The community has been exceptionally supportive,” said Dennis Welsh, chemistry professor and the coordinator for RHOP. “I know they’re looking forward to some of these guys graduating, because they will get a lot of them. If not into their community, probably the one next to it.”

EVEN FURTHER BENEATH THE SURFACE is the way in which the school’s goal of “essential engagement” can impact the economies of local communties.

Peru State College classes and projects have produced work and ideas that have been woven into the fabric of southeast Nebraska’s economy.

One program with special long-range potential is the Rural Health Opportunities Program of the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Peru began its partnership with the Med Center in 2012 with the goal of meeting the medical needs of rural southeast Nebraska by encouraging area students to pursue careers in health fields. Rural students accepted into the program complete their undergraduate work at Peru tuition-free and then advance to specific medical-based studies at UNMC. They are expected to return to rural areas to practice.

Beckie Cromer, director of Falls City Economic Development and Growth Enterprise Inc., is a booster of the program, along with other recent efforts by Peru.

“Some of the kids who have a choice between Lincoln or Omaha now decide to stay in the area,” she said. “Before, there was this mindset that you had to go to a big city to go to school.”

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Colin Niemeyer of Falls City was a sophomore in high school when Peru State became part

“To bring in high-quality students and expect them to do high-quality work, you have to provide them an environment to do that.”

— Dennis Welsh, RHOP coordinator

of RHOP for pharmacy. It caught his interest, and he began job shadowing.

Niemeyer said Peru’s affordability and the proximity to his family’s farm, where he could help his father when needed, were two attactions for him. “Number three was the great opportunity of the RHOP scholarship,” he said. “I would have to say this was the ultimate reason I chose Peru State College.”

Access to good health care is vital to rural economies in order to attract business and jobs.

In addition, health care jobs provide good salaries in the area.

“This gives us a chance to keep these kids in the community,” Cromer said.

A study of Nemaha County by the Nebraska Center for Rural Health Research found that every 100 health care jobs created lead to another 25 jobs and that each dollar spent locally on health care leads to another 28 cents spent for other things.

The past success of Peru students entering pharmacy school helped secure RHOP when it was time to expand. UNMC was thorough in examining Peru’s capabilities, said Dennis Welsh, RHOP coordinator.

“They wanted to see all the programs, all the faculty, the adminstrators, see what our commitment was to teaching for medical-based students,” he said.

Welsh said Peru State was firm in wanting to retain the character of the school’s focus on science research and instruction.

“We first want to make really, really good scientists,” he said, “and then they will be good medical-based students.”

That was what the Med Center wanted to hear.

“If you tailor your program around teaching medicine, then you never teach them to be scientists,” Welsh said.

In 2017, the rural health program provides Peru State with three seats in the pharmacy program, four

RHOP capitalizes on Peru’s traditionally strong science program. Drew Wellenstein (left) and Haley Dutton (right), 2015 graduates, published articles based on research from biological field trips to Texas. Their research was under the direction of biology professor Michael Barger.

in the nursing program, three in the physician assistant program, three in medical laboratory science, two in physical therapy and two in radiography.

The first Peru graduates of the program will enter the University of Nebraska’s pharmacy school in 2017.

“We really feel pretty good about the program. It’s been a real boom,” said Jeff Harrison of UNMC, speaking at an RHOP symposium sponsored by Peru State in 2015. “I still don’t think there’s anything like it anywhere else in the country.”

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Richard Clopton, professor of biology, incorporates students such as Haley Dutton into his research programs.

Peru State’s commitment to the rural health program, and to the benefits it brings southeast Nebraska, is apparent in the renovation and improvements completed in the Hoyt Science Building in 2016.

“We improved everything in the building. We made labs more efficient. Everything works better than it did,” Welsh said. “You can feel comfortable in your lab, you can get your work done – a lot more work done in the same period of time.”

Niemeyer of Falls City was looking forward to earning his degree in biochemical sciences in 2018 and his eventual graduation from the University of Nebraska’s College of Pharmacy.

“I plan on settling in a small town of Nebraska and beginning my life as a prepared pharmacist,” he said, “thanks to the decision I made in my early high school years.”

Cromer, the Falls City economic development specialist, couldn’t help but think ahead to when the first graduates of the rural health program begin returning to southeast Nebraska.

“They’re more apt to stay here and be part of our work force,” she said. “That betters our chance to stay economically viable.”

Welsh also looks out toward the years ahead for the real benefits to show. “We need those students in the medical programs to get through and then come back and work in the area,” he said. “And then they’ll tell young students they should do RHOP at Peru.”

“It’s going to take a while, but in 10 years, that’s certainly what I can see going on.

That’s the way programs build, and we’re still in the early infancy of this.”

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NEW WAYS TO LEARN Biology professor Gul Ahmad received a Student Engagement Grant to acquire a refrigerated centrifuge.

The machine will provide new experiment opportunities for students in science and education and for students who want to become health or allied health professionals.

PERU STATE COLLEGE STANDS READY as a resource when the region looks to build on its economy.

Faculty, staff and students have been active in the Stronger Economies Together program for the combined region of Johnson, Nemaha, Otoe, Pawnee and Richardson Counties – known as Southeast Nebraska Partners for Progress. The effort, initiated by USDA Rural Development, aims to provide an economic development blueprint for rural areas.

Becky Cromer of Falls City Economic Development and Growth Enterprise said Peru State provided staff and hosted Partners for Progress’s first session in 2015.

The assistance from Peru people was no surprise, she said.

“Every time we come to the table with a project that’s going on, they’re always a player at the table,” she said.

Cromer said Peru also encouraged students to participate. “They were a key proponent in having the youth perspective,” she said.

Tim Borchers, vice president for academic affairs, took part in the early session.

“One of the first questions was, ‘What are the strengths of the five-county area?’ ” he recalled.

“Peru State College came up with almost every group. That really cemented for me that it’s important that we’re involved.”

“The region sees us as an important resource.”

— Tim Borchers, vice president for academic affairs

The first session included a Saturday bus tour to the biggest cities in each of the five counties involved and ended up at Peru State for a football game in the evening.

Partners for Progress’s 2016 economic development plan highlighted the goals of promoting cultural tourism, attracting manufacturing, offering workforce education and promoting entrepreneurship.

Borchers said the school is especially interested in entrepreneurship. “We’re trying to figure out what educational opportunities we can give students to get them interested in being entrepreneurs,” he said.

He said Peru also would try to build on the effort by drawing younger students into entrepreneurship. “There are opportunities to increase our prominence and to recruit more students and also to give our students some opportunities so they can be successful,” Borchers said.

Cromer’s work with Partners for Progress came as she worked on her master’s in organizational management at Peru.

Greg Seay, dean of Peru graduate programs, pointed to her pursuit of a master’s as an example of the school’s success in building economic bridges in southeast Nebraska.

“She’s putting academic work to practical use, and we’re getting good return on engagement in the community,” he said. “It brings things full circle.”

Kim Beger, of the Auburn Development Council, says that Borchers and Julie TaylorCostello, director of the Center for Engaged Learning, have attended Auburn Development Council meetings. “If we’re talking about something community wide, they’ll say, ‘Maybe we have somebody who can help with that,’ ” Beger said. “They are very important to us, and we value our partnership and our relationship.”

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Research and Expertise for the Region Assistance for Auburn Historical Designation Kim Beger of the Auburn Development Council credited Peru State College with helping Auburn create a historic district to assist in the city’s preservation efforts. Beger said professor Sara Crook’s students helped research the unique history of Auburn. The city was created by merging two competing towns, Sheridan and Calvert, in order to gain support for an effort to obtain the Nemaha County seat. Auburn became the county seat in the 1880s, with Courthouse Square situated halfway between Sheridan and Calvert.

The city created the Historic Preservation The Nemaha County Courthouse in Auburn.

Commission in 2012 with the goal of getting an Auburn Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places. “Students interviewed committee members and researched buildings in our district,” Beger said.

The students also took part in town halls and presented reports on what they had learned.

Auburn hired a Peru intern to finish up the work, and the results were turned over to an out-of-state consultant responsible for putting together the presentation to gain special historic status. “If we wouldn’t have had the Peru students available, I would have been doing it alone, and it would have taken a longer time,” Beger said. “The consultant would have had to spend a lot more time on the basic effort.” The National Register of Historic Places listed Auburn’s district in 2014. Sites in the register are eligible for tax credits and grants related to historic preservation. Beger said the project was just one example of Peru’s valuable assistance.

Students and faculty also have helped local companies with research on pricing, business hours, customer service and branding.

History on Display in Nebraska City In Nebraska City, the Main Street Historians were looking for help with a project they hoped would showcase the vibrant past of buildings along Central Avenue in their city. The group had gathered information tracking the history of the buildings, including when they opened and which businesses they had housed.

Peru State College art instructor Sheli Petersen and her design studio class got involved. “They had great information, and they knew a lot of people who were interested,” she said. “But they needed a way to present the information to the public.”

Nebraska City’s historic district.

The design studio class was well suited to take on the project.

“Students take on clients on campus, as well as off campus, and work together as a team,” Petersen said.

The class held client meetings with Main Street Historian members, with graphic design majors Katelyn Billups and Anna Naber serving as lead designers. The students developed a signage system for the buildings that provided material on which businesses had been there in the past. They also helped create a database for the information and a web site.

“They’re really excited about it,” Petersen said of the Nebraska City businesses.

Such projects are mutually beneficial. “It shows the community that we just aren’t staying at Peru State College,” said Judy Grotrian, business professor. “It shows that classes that we teach are applicable to businesses. We’re not just sitting in a classroom and doing assignments. Students have the opportunity to engage in the research and make presentations out there.”

PERU STATE COLLEGE FACULTY are available to help with the many challenges area businesses face today. Tony Johnson, instructional technologist for the Cooper Nuclear Station in Brownville, was looking for assistance in training workers from different generations. “You

“The more exposure we can give students as well as faculty in the community, the more positive things come out of that.”

— Judy Grotrian, business professor

have this myriad of generations working, and they all have different learning styles,” he said.

Johnson sought out Peru’s Judy Grotrian and Sheri Grotrian-Ryan for their expertise with millennials who have entered the workforce in recent years. “You get more credibility when you have someone who has actually taught that age group,” he said.

Grotrian and Grotrian-Ryan collaborated on the project. The mother and daughter business professors were able to put to use their research on generational relationships.

“We need to understand that we’re going to be working with all types of people and generations,” Grotrian said. “There are really a lot of similarities if you look outside that box and omit stereotyping.”

During the course of training sessions over a year, the Peru professors talked to the Cooper trainers about listening skills, different types of behavior and how to accept alternative ways of doing things. They also engaged in role playing, which seemed to generate a good response.

“They said it was a breath of fresh air because it wasn’t necessarily topics that they get,” Grotrian-Ryan said.

“It got good feedback,” said Johnson, a Peru State graduate. “It was a good introductory way to bring a third party in and give our instructors a look at the learning environment.”

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PERU STATE COLLEGE IMPACTS the region economically on a large scale as a major employer and on a smaller level simply because of the close connection the school has always had to local communities.

Todd Simpson, chief executive of the Peru State College Foundation, said the connection is reinforced by the people at the top.

“Peru State is very community centered, and you see that from the way we have community groups meet on campus,” he said. “You see it from that perspective, and then you can flip it around and see it from the perspective of President Hanson going in and sitting down and having conversations with the economic development councils for Falls City or Nebraska City or Auburn.”

“President Hanson and Elaine have done a tremendous job of branching out and making sure that Nebraska City, Auburn, Falls City, really all of southeast Nebraska, know who their college is,” he said. “It’s Peru State.”

Faculty members also realized they’re carrying on a legacy passed down by teachers who came before them.

“Way before I was here, Peru State College was the pillar of academics in the community,” said science professor Dennis Welsh. “It was where everybody would look and say, ‘These are the people you should talk to.’ ” He’s happy to continue the tradition. “I’ll get a phone call from people in the community all the time to ask me about things,” he said.

Beger, of the Auburn Development Council, said local businesses depend on the expertise of the Peru State academic community in studying problems, providing information and planning development. Community boards and business groups depend on faculty, staff and students for service.

“They provide members to serve on boards and in groups, and they donate to projects,” she said. “In rural communities, you all have to help one another, or you’re not going to survive.”

Beger called the college “a great resource.”

“They’re first on our list if we have something,” she said. “If we have a project we think we can work together on, we ask ... if Peru has anybody who’s interested in this or needs credit.”

That personal connection complements the institution’s overall value to the region.

Peru State College has provided generations of alumni who have stayed in the region to become part of the fabric of the school and the community.

“For a lot of local kids, they’re the first generation who go to college,” said Jane Smith of Brownville. “So that’s a big influence on the economy of southeast Nebraska and the four-state area.”

But she said the added benefit comes from those students who succeed and choose to remain in the area, continuing to influence the economy with higher incomes that come with a college degree.

“It’s like dropping a pebble in a pool,” she said. “The circle just keeps expanding.”

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“They’re not just here.

They’re invested in the communities around them, even on a personal level.”

— Kim Beger, Auburn Development Council, on the role of Peru’s faculty, staff and students in the region

A Stamp of Approval PERU STATE COLLEGE CAN REFLECT with pride upon the results of the hard work that led up to its 150-year anniversary celebration in 2017. When Dan Hanson took the reins as the school’s president, he set a course for the future by building upon the school’s long history of excellence in education. The building blocks would include growing enrollment, an active approach to learning and a commitment to creating leaders in the community and beyond.

Hanson said it was important to have a strategy that highlighted students’ success and engaged them in new ways to find pride in their accomplishments.“This institution has always focused on the individual students, has been very student-centered, and I think this allowed us to highlight that,” he said.

“It’s not, ‘We’re having a visit, things should be in order!’

No, things should always be in order.”

— Ellie Kunkel, dean of education, describing the accreditation process

Students receive their grades at the end of a semester. Colleges receive theirs at the end of a multi-year accreditation process. The school in 2012 had received the best possible evaluation from the Higher Learning Commission, requiring no follow-up visits or other reporting. The results placed Peru in an elite group of institutions within its region.

“Only 30 percent of all higher education institutions require no follow-up,” Hanson said.

“I cannot overstate the significance of this accomplishment.”

The commission in 2016 released the results of its review in the fourth year of the college’s ten-year accreditation cycle, and again all criteria were met with no follow-up action required.

“It just shows this long history of commitment to academic excellence, which ultimately is a commitment to student success, a better region and a better Nebraska,” Hanson said.

The school has been continuously accredited for more than a century, having first passed review by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools in 1915 when it was Nebraska State Normal School.

Peru State College’s mission and performance also were validated in 2016 under the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education standards. The council’s performancebased system for evaluating teacher preparation is especially important at Peru, a college with a long history of producing outstanding teachers.

While the accreditation process is rigorous and detailed, Peru administrators do not fear it as an unprepared student might view an end-of-semester exam. “Accreditation is a culture, rather than a process,” said Ellie Kunkel, dean of education.

Kunkel said such a culture is built by showing “what your students know, how they know it, and what you’re going to do if they don’t.”

Peru State has provided substance to back up its continuing accreditation. The school’s efforts – including student retention, academic achievement and community outreach – build a case.

“Accreditation gives us the structure,” said Tim Borchers, vice president for academic affairs.

“What we try to do is take all of these things that are happening as evidence.”

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Teaching: The Original ‘Essential Engagement’ Even beyond Peru State College’s many visible engagement efforts that enhance practical learning is the profound benefit the region receives from the school’s efforts to train teachers – in some ways Peru’s oldest form of engagement.

“Any time our teacher candidates can work with students, they learn something,” said Ellie Kunkel (left), dean of education. “It gives them that anchor to see how theory looks in practice.”

Kunkel said the Peru Publishers program, in which teaching candidates work with fourth-graders to create book manuscripts to publish, has been particularly rewarding. “Those connections open up or ignite a passion both ways, with our teacher candidates and the students,” she said.

“That extra attention, in a different way of teaching and learning, helps,” she said.

“Making connections with our teacher candidates gives them a renewed enthusiasm to engage in learning.”

From its beginnings as a teachers college, Peru has assisted area schools not only by providing student teachers, but also tutors and valuable research.

Recent Initiatives by the School of Education: • The English Language Learners (ELL) program for pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade families at St. Andrew School in Tecumseh, Calvert Elementary in Auburn, HTRS School in Humboldt and other locations.

• Teaching candidates working with Southeast Nebraska Community Action to provide financial literacy instruction for middle- and high-school math students.

• Partnership with the Nebraska Center for the Education of Children Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired in Nebraska City to organize and supervise its prom.

ONE OF THE STARTING POINTS in the accreditation process is determining whether the school’s mission is clear. The Peru administration’s emphasis on “essential engagement” was embraced fully by faculty, staff and students. “The strategic plan has put a pretty sharp focus on engagement, and it’s become part of our culture,” Borchers said.

Engagement means allowing students and faculty to explore ways to push the frontier of active learning. Classroom lessons, work experience, activities and community service become intertwined in the process.

“You don’t just learn from a book,” said Kelly Asmussen, retired criminal justice professor.

He pointed to the students who had spent a semester with inmates in a classroom setting during his Searching for Justice course at Tecumseh State Prison. A survey afterward showed a positive change in the students’ attitude toward inmates and their chances after they are released from prison.

FEEDING 44 RECOGNIZED Je’Kerra Hopper, student director for Feeding 44, accepted a 2016 Step Forward Award presented to the program for addressing hunger in Nemaha County.

ServeNebraska, the state’s volunteer service commission, recognizes individuals and groups for significant contributions to their communities.

“It taught them the realities of doing time and the complexities of the Department of Corrections in sending people out afterward,” he said. “I didn’t think students would be changed that much, but they were.”

As a result, several applied for internships at Tecumseh or with the State Department of Corrections, he said. One student who planned a nursing career decided instead to be a nurse in a prison. “It served as a recruiting tool for the Department of Corrections,” Asmussen said.

Another focus of accreditation is that the school “demonstrates commitment to the public good” and interacts positively with its outside communities. Sometimes less obvious, but vitally important, is the learning process that occurs during service.

Faculty members marvel at the rewards of community projects that are offshoots of their course work.

A Nebraska City historical group that had sought out help from art instructor Sheli Petersen’s class was pleased with the results. But Peterson also saw the benefits – through the eyes of a teacher, watching the growth of her students.

One member of her class had displayed “a fair amount of raw talent,” she said, but needed to refine her skills. The student ended up emerging as one of the design leaders on the project.

“I tell you what, this young woman was born to be an art director,” Petersen said. “I saw her emerging as a real leader in directing the other students.”

Greg Galardi, dean of the School of Professional Studies, said the strength of student activities such as business leadership fraternity Phi Beta Lambda is another example of engagement succeeding. “The outcome is that our students are very knowledgeable in business and they can apply that in a competitive setting or in the real world,” he said.

In the end, it’s easy to see how engagement benefits Peru State College students, from their enthusiasm for learning to their sense of pride in real accomplishments.

“We’re putting students in positions where they can apply what they’ve learned,” Borchers said. “And they can get exposure to their disciplines and to the broader world out there so that they’re a little bit better prepared for it.”

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PERU STATE COLLEGE HAS PROVED itself determined to conduct its mission with integrity, by promoting a campus that embraces freedom of expression and showing a commitment to public good. Students are exposed immediately to an atmosphere of openness in “Daring Discussion” group sessions in the Fusion program for freshmen.

“These discussions can get pretty heated,” said Adam Neveau, director of residence life.

Topics have included abortion, legalization of marijuana and whether college athletes should be paid. The discussions are moderated by a staff member.

Janessa Davis, a 2016 graduate, said the program was especially important for freshmen.

“It was a safe place for them to share their opinions with people who have different views,” she said. “I was so impressed with the students and how they reacted.”

The campus also is a conduit for free thought through the Distinguished Speakers Series that began in 2010. The program aims to bring diverse nationally and internationally recognized speakers to the hilltop, both to enrich the educational experience and to engage the surrounding communities.

“It was started with the intent of bringing in different viewpoints to this part of the state,” President Dan Hanson said.

The series was intended to expose Peru students to a wide range of ideas, expressed by articulate speakers who also would interact with them on campus. “And then we wanted to provide that kind of opportunity to southeast Nebraska,” Hanson said. “So in some ways, it was about increasing prominence, too. We brought people here with diverse viewpoints who challenged us to maybe think in new ways and be very constructive in how they interacted with our students.”

Helping Is ‘an Obligation’ The benefits of the Distinguished Speaker Series include the ability to inspire.

Joseph Fauver (right), class of 2013, in 2011 spoke with Dennis Richardson, on campus for Peru State’s Distinguished Speaker Series. Richardson related how and why he had started a nonprofit organization called the Bawa Health Initiative, which aims to improve life in sub-Saharan Africa by providing locals with the infrastructure, education and resources to combat disease.

Fauver at the time was president of Peru State’s chapter of Rotoract, a Rotary International group for young people. Rotoract was founded on campus in 2012 by First Lady Elaine Hanson, assistant Rotary district governor, and a group of students that included Fauver. Rotoract sponsored a dinner to raise money for the Bawa Health Initiative. “That night we raised over $1,300 for the Bawa Health Initiative, which subsequently helped build a health care clinic in rural Cameroon,” Fauver said.

“I still get choked up thinking about this, because a group of like minded college students came together under the right guidance. We found that not only did we have the ability to help people in a country that we likely couldn’t have even pointed out on a map, but in fact, we found out that we should be helping these people. It was no longer an option. It was an obligation.”

Fauver, a Ph.D. candidate at Colorado State University, spoke in Lincoln in 2016 at the Rotary District 5650 Conference.

Fauver conducted undergraduate research at Peru under the direction of biology professor Richard Clopton. “(He)approached me in the hallway of the Hoyt Science Building with an opportunity to join his research lab,” Fauver said. “I spent my next three years traveling across the country with Dr. Clopton, wife Deb (also a faculty member) and my fellow lab mates presenting research at conferences, doing field work, smuggling cockroaches onto airplanes and, most importantly, learning how to be a scientist.”

And Hanson said the school will continue to seek new ways “to engage our students in respectful dialogue across campus.”

The school’s commitment to the public good also shows through in the way faculty members bring life lessons to their curriculum.

Wendi Buggi, class of 2016, described faculty members Judith Ruskamp, Bill Clemente and Dan Holtz as “fabulous supporters.”

“They were always available for me to talk to and were great at helping me problem-solve when it came to campus commitments

Judith Ruskamp

and personal responsibilities,” Buggi said. “I am so grateful for their guidance, positivity and wisdom.”

COMMITMENT TO STUDENTS Raenna Carbaugh, class of 2015, lost a family member while she was a student and found support from Peru’s staff, especially Judith Ruskamp from the School of Education.

First Lady Elaine Hanson has helped instill a commitment to helping the community through her work with business organizations and nonprofits throughout the region.

“I always make a point that every board I’m on, I try to get students involved,” she said.

“They learn how to become involved citizens in the community in which they live.”

The First Lady has plenty of opportunities to find service projects during her active involvement with community groups and projects – more than a dozen during a recent school year.

Paul Fell, co-president of the Peru State National Alumni Association, said Elaine Hanson has an extraordinary ability to get students to tackle service. “She doesn’t make them,” Fell said.

“She just has that ability to get them all involved.”

“She stood by me and fought on my side through some tough battles,” Carbaugh said.

“She helped me develop skills of compassion and understanding while still having full control of tough situations.”

Carbaugh was the Nebraska State Education Association’s 2017 Rookie of the Year.

The award is given to outstanding teachers in their second full year of service.

Peru State College students get an early introduction to First Lady Elaine Hanson when Freshman 101 classes visit the president’s house, and they might hear a pitch to become involved in a project.

“Service just creates kind of that sense of we’re all in this together,” she said.

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Women’s basketball team members helped fill the volunteer roster at the annual Peru City-Wide Cleanup.

School organizations and athletic teams build upon the service component of the school’s culture.

Faculty advisor Sheri Grotrian-Ryan said business leadership organization Phi Beta Lambda tries to do a project every month and is especially active during the holiday season, helping with a toy drive, organizing a giving tree and donating a Christmas tree.

“It’s not only the leadership and the education aspect of it, but PBL does try to emphasize service,” she said. “It’s a lot of little things that don’t necessarily go into competition.”

In Peru, squad members from cheerleading, cross country, football, golf, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball participated in the Peru City-Wide Cleanup in spring 2016, helping to remove 95 truckloads of trash.

That fall, members of the Hispanic Latino Student Association, Black Student Union, Kappa Omicron Rho, Peru Disc Golfers Association and the American Red Cross Club helped sponsor a food drive for local organizations.

The commitment to helping has extended to students’ trips abroad, with service in the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and other locales.

“It’s a really good example of how our students are learning about multicultural society by being immersed in it,” Borchers said.

Kyle Ryan, whose classes have been active in promoting exercise for younger children, said Peru State sees a growing maturity among students as they reach out beyond campus.

“Our students graduate with the understanding that they are part of a collective greater good,” Ryan said.

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“The many devoted people at Peru State College display a timeless attitude of genuine concern and selfless service to the students.

Their commitment and dedication are a human reflection of our beautiful, historic campus.”

— Eugene Beardslee, director of computer services

THE HIGHER LEARNING COMMISSION is mindful of the ways in which a school delivers high-quality education. One measuring stick is “developing skills adaptable to changing environments” – a phrase that seems to perfectly fit the goal of engagement.

In a sense, engagement assures that classes are always testing the boundaries of learning and always probing for new ways to receive information. No lesson is the same, and no limits exist on how much can be learned.

Peru State College devotes thousands of dollars each year to Student Engagement Enhancement Awards to fund efforts to help students reach their potential. Among the recipients of the 2016-17 awards was Grotrian-Ryan, who received funds to help students attend Phi Beta Lambda’s National Leadership Conference in Anaheim, California.

Phi Beta Lambda has a history of excellence in national competition, and the school has been eager to lend strong support.

“I think when you have support from the upper level, that really assists the students because they believe that it’s something that’s of value,” Grotrian-Ryan said.

For some students, she said, the conference represented their first time in an airliner and their first trip out of the region.

“That’s pretty meaningful to be part of that for these students,” she said.

Peru State’s faculty adapts to a changing world by continuing its quest to maintain innovative, challenging and timely courses.

Criminal justice instructor Danny Hayes introduced a Christy Hutchison plays a crucial role in helping Phi Beta Lambda members with business law. “She’ll make sure that their case study is up to speed, and maybe give them some sample questions that she thinks maybe judges would ask,” Sheri Grotrian-Ryan said. Hutchison was honored in 2011 with Peru State College’s Teaching Excellence Award and the Nebraska State College System’s George Rebensdorf Teaching Award.

homeland security class for the 2016-17 school year. Some parts of the course already had been covered in other areas, but Hayes said one argument for adding the class was that homeland security was a major component in standardized testing for criminal justice.

“Because you’re seeing it throughout more criminal justice agencies, not just law enforcement, it’s becoming one of those things where our students need to have more of that background,” he said. “It’s an important part of learning about

the criminal justice system, so it was time we added this to our curriculum.”

In addition, emergency management training was an important component, and not just in terms of reacting to terrorism. Hayes said students might eventually enhance the school’s emergency response abilities, along with those of community response teams.

“I’m hoping that after this class, we’ll have a group of students who are interested in that process and are willing to assist,” he said, “whether it’s here in Nemaha County or the surrounding counties or back home where they’re from.”

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Students are challenged not only in coursework, but also in the field of research.

Biology professor Mike Barger presented research he co-authored with two students at the 2016 annual meeting of the Southwestern Association of Parasitologists in Lake Texoma, Oklahoma. Barger, who will serve as president of the association in 2018, was assisted by Gunnar Orcutt and Kyle McAndrews, both of Omaha, on the project, “Undiscovered Biodiversity of Parasitic Helminths in Fishes of Gulf Coast Drainages.”

Kyle Ryan, professor of exercise science, said the value of field research cannot be underestimated, especially with an accomplished scientist such as Barger, the 2009 Peru State Teaching Excellence Award winner. “Our students are being exposed in many cases to a graduate-level relationship with faculty,” he said.

Students often accompany their professors on research trips. “When we share those stories with individuals from other institutions, they are just flabbergasted with the opportunities that we’re given with student engagement,” Ryan said.

“I try to emphasize that it’s a really key networking opportunity for students.

Their projects and people skills help to differentiate them.”

— Phi Beta Lambda advisor Sheri GrotrianRyan, on attending the National Leadership Conference

Professional Organizations Receive National Honors for Their Work PHI BETA LAMBDA

KAPPA OMICRON RHO

Peru State College students brought home 12 top-ten finishes at the Phi Beta Lambda National Leadership Conference in Atlanta in 2016, adding to a long tradition of excellence. Included was a first-place finish by Brandie Westhart (on right in photo) in the parliamentary procedure competition.

Criminal justice fraternity Lamda Alpha Epison (Kappa Omicron Rho chapter) also excels in taking home awards from regional and national conferences that make use of exams and criminal justice skills competition.

The annual harvest of trophies is the stamp of approval on the students’ accomplishments, but the process leading to the competition is just as rewarding. “It’s centered as a business organization, but we try to emphasize more leadership now,” said Sheri Grotrian-Ryan, faculty advisor. “You don’t have to be a business major to join.”

Some coursework can be incorporated into projects for the competition, she said. “Other times we have to work on developing start to finish.”

Peru’s PBL chapter often has the largest number of students in attendance at state gatherings and also sends a large group to nationals. The chapter’s strength is reflected in the fact that Peru State Associate Athletic Director Ted Harshbarger has served as the state PBL adviser for 20 years and is a former national chair.

Grotrian-Ryan was a PBL member when she was a Peru student. “I want individuals to have that same experience that I had,” she said.

“It’s intriguing to see where we stand, where we are compared to colleges that are similar to us across the country,” said Danny Hayes, who has taken students to national competition and excelled in events himself. “We want to make sure that the students we’re sending out there are marketable.”

The competition also helps the school build into its curriculum the material that is expected to be known.

“That’s the most important thing: making sure that when they get out to the real world, and they’re applying for jobs, that they have an idea what’s going on and they’re not lost,” Hayes said.

The results show. Value Colleges in 2016 named Peru State’s criminal justice program No. 34 nationally for best value in online education.

“We’ve been pretty good at having the things we’re teaching line up with what they’re expected to know,” Hayes said.

PREPARING FOR TESTING Kacey Brown (above), who graduated with a degree in elementary education in 2016, was among the first teacher candidates in Nebraska to take the content tests in order to get their state teaching certificates.

Although other states had used content tests for decades, Nebraska was the secondto-last state in the country to adopt them. Iowa was third-to-last.

Brown said she was well prepared for the test but still felt pressure as she walked into an Omaha testing center. “It’s like my whole career was on the line,” she said, “so I didn’t want to bomb it.”

She passed her test and accepted a job offer from Gretna Public Schools.

Tadiyos Gebre (left), a math and science skills specialist, met with Haevyn Hug.

Peru State also adapts to the changing educational scene by providing career-building services at the Center for Achievement and Transition Services. For instance, students receive help in preparing for Praxis testing, which allows them to be admitted into the teacher education program.

Tadiyos Gebre, a former math and science skills specialist, has provided a five-week prep session for the math portion of the test.

“I’ve had students who really, really want to be teachers, and they’ll do well in their education classes if they can get into them,” he said. “But this one math test is the reason why they can’t get there. If they don’t pass, they really can’t pursue their degree. ... It’s going to pretty much hold them hostage.”

In addition to reviewing math concepts during the prep session, some of the help involves one-on-one tips for those who struggle with standardized testing.

“I really watch them work to identify what they are struggling with, and I try to see their process and their thinking,” Gebre said. “I try to say, ‘This is why you are making a mistake,’ or maybe, ‘This is where you have a gap in knowledge.’ ” “CATS has helped us a great deal,” said Dean of Education Ellie Kunkel.

Another part of the preparation is building confidence.

“If you studied for it, and you prepared for it, don’t question yourself,” Gebre said he tells the students. “Trust your answers.”

Still, some students must take the test several times to pass, he said.

One of those he helped was an adult with a family who had quit his job and returned to school to pursue a teaching career. But his dream was in the balance after failing the test.

“He had wanted to be a teacher for a long time,” Gebre said. “He came to me and said, ‘My wife is looking at me every day and asking why I can’t pass this math test.’ ” The man continued with CATS sessions, worked on his practice exams and eventually passed.

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PERU STATE COLLEGE CONSTANTLY EVALUATES and takes steps to improve upon the learning process. It begins with early retention efforts and continues all the way through measuring success by achievement.

Student retention took a step forward in the 2016-17 school year with the introduction of Mapworks, a software program that allows an early evaluation of students for risks to their academic success.

“The program is meant to serve as a platform for support, to help us understand what they need,” said Jesse Dorman, vice president of enrollment management and student affairs.

While such information was available in the past, Mapworks compiles it and “allows us to focus more laser-like on the students who need help,” Dorman said.

A professor can review the results and “detect context in chaos,” he said. “It streamlines the whole process. This allows students very early to have self-knowledge.”

Plus, it adds to Peru State College’s legacy of innovation.

“This was an outgrowth of a long-term approach on campus,” Dorman said. “We have some great tools moving forward.”

Achievement shows the educational process is working as students advance through their academic careers.

The Peru State College Library might be the most obvious example of the school’s relentless approach to improving the learning process.

Director Veronica Meier has guided the library through the rapidly changing landscape of the information age. That means offering more texts through databases and the ability to search through a library web page.

“We’re trying to be more like Google, because the students are comfortable with that one-search box where they’re going to get all the information,” Meier said. “We need to make it user-friendly, so that they can come to the library and know what’s going on, rather than getting frustrated and going to Google.”

She said keeping research intuitive is especially important to online and long-distance students who don’t have the opportunity to come to the library.

Research is evolving as quickly as the technology to deliver it, but the library has met that challenge as well.

“We’ve really been able to keep up with the kind of journal databases that faculty need to be effective researchers and that students need to learn from their classes,” said Tim Borchers, vice president for academic affairs. “Veronica has been very innovative in the kinds of instructional resources she can provide.”

Then there’s the changing nature of a library.

“In the past, libraries were supposed to be quiet, students were supposed to work together and whisper,” Meier said. “That’s just not feasible.”

“You want the library to be a place where not only is there research and studying,” Meier said, “but also where students can gather to discuss and socialize and to get ideas.”

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SOFTWARE TO IDENTIFY RISKS Peru State is using Mapworks software, which compiles a number of measurements related to how well a student will do in college.

ACT scores and high school profiles offer a starting point.

Freshmen are surveyed in the College 101 program about their attitudes toward school and their study habits, providing additional data. Faculty members assist later with alerts on missed classes and academic updates.

The faculty has welcomed the help in identifying struggling students.

And students become part of that process when they see their own evaluations.

Introducing 21st century technology onto a 150-year-old campus wasn’t as difficult as it might sound, said Jesse Dorman, vice president of enrollment management and student affairs.

“Keeping it simple was a key. Then you want to make it user friendly,” he said.

“This is very comprehensive.”

Flexible library hours – including events as late as midnight and on weekends – improve accessibility.

The library staff ’s outreach helps students realize how the facility has adapted to their needs.

A scavenger hunt at the beginning of the year introduces services, as do events throughout the school year. The staff even has its own “March Madness” bracket, allowing students to vote on favorite fictional characters.

The students’ wishes and concerns are heard. They used to prefer individual spaces but now look more for group study areas. They also want to be able to charge electronic devices that can

“The library’s a beautiful space and we just try to keep up with what students want and how they study.”

— Veronica Meier, library director

access information. And the printed word is less in demand.

“I saw that the future was going down the path where we weren’t going to have these stacks upon stacks of books, we were going to have to have places where people could gather,” she said. “But I’m surprised at how quickly it has happened.”

“We want to become more like community centers,” Meier said. “We want to become a place where our patrons can come and use what we have, but also discover new purposes.”

Improving the quality of education has been a continuing quest from the time of the Nebraska State Normal School of 1867 to the Peru State College of today. Sometimes the school finds a new path on its own. Other times, direction comes from outside.

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A few years back, a mother called President Dan Hanson with her concern that Peru might not be the best choice for her daughter, whose ultimate goal was medical school.

That call led to conversations with the University of Nebraska Medical Center about its Rural Health Opportunities Program, which prepares undergraduates for medical-based studies.

A representative from the UNMC College of Pharmacy came to Peru to check on the school’s science programs. “I knew our sciences were doing good things, but somehow there was this image out there,” Hanson said.

The College of Pharmacy representative left impressed. “Getting other people to realize what was happening here seemed like a real challenge,” Hanson said. “Sometimes we didn’t need to fix anything. We just had to let them know how good this was. Now we can say with confidence that if you come here, we’ve got a great relationship with UNMC.” In the end, the students benefit from Peru’s continuing pursuit of excellence.

Colin Niemeyer of Falls City hopes to obtain his degree from Peru in 2018, then head off to the University of Nebraska’s College of Pharmacy.

“This program is the best thing that has happened to me,” he said. “I have met incredible friends, professors and people through this program. It has kept me dedicated to my school work and is preparing me for what looks to be a bright future.”

Spring 2016 enrollment at Peru State College hit a record 2,682, up from 2,545 the previous year.

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Standing Like a Mighty Oak PERU STATE COLLEGE is celebrating a new golden age as it reaches its 150th anniversary.

Bobcat alumni don’t talk about the “good old days,” they speak of what is happening now.

Paul and Arlene Fell have seen the college grow as students, later as faculty members and now as co-presidents of the National Alumni Association board. They’ve never been prouder of their alma mater. Paul related what it was like in the 1970s and 1980s, when he and Arlene were teaching at the school. “Somebody would always say, ‘This is nice ... for Peru,’ like there were two standards.”

“We’ve been doing this for 150 years. ... You feel even more responsibility as you look to the future when you look at that kind of history.”

— Peru State College President Dan Hanson

That’s no longer the case, he said.

“I’m really happy to see that there are people here now who understand what ‘first class’ means,” he said. “And they’re not willing to settle for less.”

That extends to the school’s academic profile.

“When we taught there, we had pretty good faculty overall, but I think they’ve got the best faculty they’ve ever had now,” Fell said. “The other thing is that the quality of the student body is better than ever.”

Larry Green, chairman of the Peru State College Foundation Board, related how he stopped by campus one day to see his sister, business professor Judy Grotrian. He was impressed with the way she and other faculty members interacted with the students.

“They really care about the kids, and the kids really feel strongly about the connection,” he said, and he was equally impressed with the students. “They seem to be very caring, with purpose.”

Danny Hayes, who grew up in Brownville, went to preschool at Peru and later attended Bobcat sports events and camps. Now he teaches on the hilltop.

“I’ve seen Peru over the years, and it’s amazing and heartwarming how much it has changed and how beautiful it looks,” he said. He mentioned the college’s new entrance, the building renovations and, of course, the Oak Bowl.

“I used to sit on those old seats and just to see what it is now – it really has had a transformation,” Hayes said. “We have some amazing people doing some amazing things and also have some amazing students. That makes it a really rewarding job.”

A new Peru State College historical marker was unveiled in 2016. From left are Nebraska State College System trustee Jess Zeiss; President Dan Hanson; Chancellor Stan Carpenter; Phi Alpha Theta President Michelle Kaiser; trustees Carter “Cap” Peterson, John Chaney and Gary Bieganski; student trustees Trey Nelson and Millie Anderson.

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Becki Probst, class of 1981, recalled declining enrollment when she was a student. “We’d say that if somebody would get hold of this college and sell it and promote it, it would be great.”

That’s exactly what happened, she said. “It was a great college, and I was lucky to go there.

It’s even better now.”

Faculty members join in celebrating today’s Peru State College. “The faculty have been brought into the decision-making process, and I see that as very positive,” said Bill Clemente, longtime English professor. “You can see what direction the headlights are pointed, and that way you can make adjustments.”

Stan Carpenter has seen the transformation of Peru State College during his time as chancellor of the Nebraska State College System, a period that included a stint as the school’s interim president. “If you got into this institution in the year 2000, you knew it was a good school, you knew kids got a good education, but it wasn’t well-known out there,” he said.

RAISING THE CURTAIN ON A NEW ERA Kathy Carroll, vice president for administration and finance, said audiences at Peru performances will enjoy the changes coming for the College Theatre.

The Auditorium’s floor will be raised in front to improve sight lines, she said.

“Acoustics will be greatly improved, as will lighting,” she said. “New seating will improve comfort.”

Carroll also said a new lobby will provide an open and bright area for meeting and conversation before and after performances when the facility is ready in 2018.

“It’s getting much better known now, and it’s getting known for the right reasons. Students can come there, they can succeed, they can be involved.”

President Dan Hanson said that the “essential engagement” strategy allowed the school community to increase the focus on student success and with it, pride in the school.

“This institution has always focused on the individual students, has been very student centered, and this allowed us to highlight that,” he said.

The added benefit was in helping the school prepare for its 150th anniversary celebration.

“The sesquicentennial plan gave the institution the chance to work together and come up with something we believed in,” he said. “It focused very specifically on what we’re most proud of: the personal interaction the faculty has with the students.”

He said engagement also helped Peru State reconnect with southeast Nebraska and the surrounding region. He pointed to the 22 Nebraska City students in the freshman class of 2016-17 as evidence that the regional bond had strengthened.

Everyone associated with the college is working hard to make sure the good times continue.

With a 2016-17 fall freshman class more than half composed of first-generation students, Peru State College strives to continue as an affordable pathway to success.

Tim Borchers, vice president for academic affairs, said the school tries to make sure that finances aren’t a barrier to a student’s performance. He recalled having a student in his office crying just before classes started. “She didn’t get her financial aid because her grades were bad,” he recalled. “To sign up for classes, she had to put her car up for a loan so she could pay.”

He said that the link between money woes and poor grades is real.

“They’re not coming to class because they have to work,” he said. “So they’re paying for classes that they’re failing. The more we can do to help with that, the better.”

Peru State College added an online bookstore for the 2016-17 school year with the goal of saving students as much as 60 percent over the traditional approach.

Foundation Chief Executive Todd Simpson pointed out that the foundation’s original mission was funding scholarships and that the focus on student finances remains.

“Everything we do helps translate into making a true college experience more affordable for our students,” Simpson said.

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The Park Avenue project was designed to improve safety and strengthen the main entrance to campus.

Fundraising for projects, such as construction and renovation, benefits students’ finances in the end, he said, by freeing up money to be used elsewhere. And the school’s beautiful new facilities help attract more students to campus. The new entryway to the school is “the final piece of the puzzle,” Carpenter said. “It has changed the door to the campus.”

“I always marvel when I’m with people who haven’t been there in 30 years,” Simpson said, “and they say, ‘Holy cow! What’s happened here?’ ” A renovation of the College Theatre will provide yet another boost to the campus in 2018.

“I’ll be able to come back and tell students, ‘In my day it was much more difficult to perform,’ ” said Amanda Burk, 2015-16 president of the Peru Theatre Company.

Jennifer Joy Krug, class of 1986, can look at the school in 2017 from the perspective of a fifth-generation Peru graduate. Her great-great grandmother Anna Moorhead graduated in Peru’s first class in 1870.

“From its beginnings 150 years ago, Peru State has become a vital part of southeast Nebraska,” she said. “It is a cultural and political hub and is a vital part of the economy.

It provides a good quality education at a reasonable cost for those in this corner of the state, and its proximity to the surrounding states makes it appealing to those students as well.”

“I am proud to be vested in its history,” Krug said.

Carpenter sees nothing but good days ahead for Peru State College.

“Peru’s been here for 150 years, and it’s going to be here for another 150 years. And it’s going to continue to serve students and the state and the region in ways other institutions can’t.

It’s a strong, viable, vibrant institution, and it’s only going to get better.”

Hanson said Peru’s 150th anniversary celebration coincides with a desire to showcase the institution. “Our momentum and what we’re most proud of comes from outstanding students and tremendous investment from alumni, from a really dedicated faculty and staff, and from the region,” he said.

He said that tough times earlier had energized alumni and community members and that their sense of accomplishment would continue to sustain efforts into the future.

“Our engagement with students and the region continues,” he said, “but we can all look back with pride at the 150-year tradition of education at Peru State College.”

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“We really try to help students while they’re here to afford it, and have that portion of it as stress-free as possible.

We want them to have a quality education.

We’re a private school education at a public school cost.”

— Greg Galardi, dean of the School of Professional Studies

Commencement 2017 PERU STATE COLLEGE’S 2017 COMMENCEMENT was a fitting kickoff for the school’s 150th anniversary observance. “Our founders believed that higher education was essential for improving the lives of their children, their families, the region and the state of Nebraska,” Peru State President Dan Hanson told graduates. “You benefited from their vision 150 years later.”

A highlight of commencement was the debut of “Sons and Daughters of Peru,” composed

by Matt Hill, assistant professor of music, in celebration of the Peru State’s sesquicentennial.

The piece was performed beautifully by the Concert Chorale and dedicated to the late Thomas Ediger, who taught music at Peru for more than three decades.

Speakers included Nebraska Governor Pete Rickets, who gave the commencement address; Stan Carpenter, chancellor of the Nebraska State College System; Kristi Nies, the Teacher Excellence Award winner; and Nebraska State College Board Trustee Bob Engles. The weekend also was marked by the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Campus Visitor and Interpretive Center in the Little Red Schoolhouse.

Sons and Daughters of Peru We are your sons, we are your daughters We are your future and your past We will remember all you gave us The shadows of our presence linger on Refrain Oh, Peru, our steadfast mother So faithful and so true As long as the sun does rise o’er Nebraska skies Our hearts belong to you.

We are your sons, we are your daughters We built our memories in your halls The future beckons us to leave you; We know we never will.

You offer truth, you offer wisdom You light the path forevermore.

May our devotion never waver May your abiding love endure! — Music and lyrics by Matt Hill

“I have watched you come from around the world, meet each other for the first time on what is usually a broiling and humid August day, and form families that will last far beyond your time here.”

“If you take the opportunity to go outside our state ...

I want you to know that we want you back in Nebraska. ...

Wherever you are and whatever state you’re in, did the governor of that state ask you to stay there?”

— Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts

— Kristi Nies, 2016 Teaching Excellence Award winner, addressing graduates

“This school celebrated its anniversary when it was 50 years old, it did so when it was 100 years old, and now we are here kicking off the sesquicentennial for 150 years old.

We remember the incredible history of this institution and look forward to its vibrant and exciting and vital future. ” — Stan Carpenter, chancellor of the Nebraska State College System 304 | PART V

“Today as I look out on our graduates, I see the brightest generation of young people this country has ever produced.

You graduates today have been taught by the best. Thank you, faculty and retired faculty. And you are fully prepared to meet the challenges in our ever-changing world.”

— Bob Engles, Nebraska State College Board trustee

“Teaching and engagement are at the core of our mission at Peru State College.

Since our founding in 1867, the emphasis on excellence in teaching has been a priority.”

— Peru State College President Dan Hanson

PART V | 305

May 6, 2017, was a beautiful day to hold a reception for graduates and their families in the Quad. Entertainment was provided by the Hoyt Street Jazz Ensemble.

Ted Harshbarger had another occasion to celebrate in May 2017: the 40th anniversary of the Nebraska Legislature’s funding of what would become the Al Wheeler Activity Center. Harshbarger, the associate athletic director, had helped organized the “Bouncing Bobcat Dribble Drive” as a student to draw attention to the need for the facility.

Peru State’s History on Display The ribbon-cutting for the Campus Visitor and Interpretive Center was part of the Commencement celebration.

Phi Alpha Theta history society spearheaded the project inside the Little Red School, which was moved to campus in 2001.

Acknowledgments HOW DO YOU BEGIN to tell a story that began 150 years ago? That was a good question three years ago, but luckily I had help in finding an answer.

Research on Nebraska’s First College began with books written by Peru graduates: The Normal on the Hill by Ernest Longfellow and The Hills of Peru by W. Louise Mears. At the same

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dan Sullivan grew up in Omaha and is a graduate of Omaha Benson High School with degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Creighton University. He has spent more than 40 years at the Omaha World-Herald in editing roles that have included night news editor, sports assignment editor, national editor and since 2010, book editor. His reporting assignments have included news, sports, business and an occasional rock concert.

Sullivan has edited more than 20 books on a range of topics, including Nebraska history, weather and football; Creighton basketball; high school sports; Warren Buffett; the Henry Doorly Zoo; and World War II. His family includes his wife, Kathy; sons Danny, John and Bob, daughter Eileen, and son-in-law Dave Cormier.

time, I decided it was best not to begin this journey without knowing how it ends. For guidance, I turned to Peru State College history professors Sara Crook and Spencer Davis, English professor Dan Holtz and science professor Daryl Long. Each was an extraordinary resource, providing perspective on how the school has navigated the last few decades leading up to the sesquicentennial. I was looking for things that made Peru State College special, and they delivered the first example: the faculty.

Library Director Veronica Meier and her staff provided valuable assistance, along with a room to contain my mess while I worked my way through thousands of photos and documents.

The Nebraska State Historical Society, and the late Jim Potter, senior research historian, also helped point the way.

I cannot neglect to mention 150 years of work by Nebraska journalists. The archives of the Omaha World-Herald, which began covering this state in 1865, provided a steady stream of accounts on major events at the school. The student journalists who have worked for Peru State’s newspapers and yearbooks deserve a tip of the cap as well. Telling the story of the institution is one thing, but the students were the primary resource for detailing campus life over the decades.

The work didn’t end with the writing. Christine Zueck-Watkins designed the book, but she also deserves to be credited as a writer, researcher and an editor. She brought to life hundreds of archived photos and found amazing ways to capture some of the more fascinating elements of Peru State College’s history. It’s a credit to Christine’s work that I’ve said to a number of people, “If you don’t want to read it, just look through the pages.” And I can’t neglect Pat “Murphy” Benoit’s remarkable work in coordinating production to get the book ready for printing.

I am especially grateful to President Dan Hanson for the generous time he shared and the modesty he displayed during the research on this book. While he was happy to trumpet the school’s achievements, it was always couched with a mention of the many alumni, faculty and staff members, community supporters and lawmakers who had made things happen. The same goes for First Lady Elaine Hanson. She has been engaged in a seemingly endless number of projects, and yet with each one, she never neglected to mention the students, organizations and area residents who were a part of the work.

While Peru State College provided freedom to go any direction in which my research took me, marketing and communications director Jason Hogue was a guiding hand in helping the narrative remain true to the school. Associate Athletic Director Ted Harshbarger, former marketing specialist Becky Johnson and alumni Paul and Arlene Fell and Kent and Becki Propst also helped steer me in the right direction with their vast knowledge (and love) of the school.

308 | ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Students in a drafting class huddled over their work in 1936.

Strong editing was a necessity while writing for more than 300 pages, and I am especially thankful for the help on this project. Good fortune has blessed me with talented colleagues such as Pam Thomas and Rich Mills. At Peru State, I benefited from the assistance of English professor Jeff Alessandrelli and Amy Mincer, the president’s secretary, and others who generously donated their time. Finally, I’m extraordinarily lucky to be married to one of the best editors around, Kathy Ryan Sullivan, who taught journalism at Creighton University until the demands of four children took over her life. I count my blessings daily for her.

Part II of the book is titled “A Golden Era,” but the current period could be called the same.

Todd Simpson and Peru State College Foundation staff members Kelly Cole, Promise DeBilzan, Becca Jewel, Annie Neveau and Deborah Solie deserve praise for helping to make the Campus of a Thousand Oaks a special place. Their reward is the overwhelmingly positive response from Peru State students, faculty, staff members and alumni when asked about their school.

In this day and age, it’s rare to find so many people joyfully pulling in the same direction.

They have every right to be proud. And I’m just as proud to have played a part in telling their good news: Peru State College is 150 years old and still going strong.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 309

Index A.D. Majors Hall 129, 132, 136, 155, 159, 209 A.V. Larson Building 128, 129, 132, 155, 260 Academic Resource Center 204, 208 Administration Building 58, 59, 139, 141 Afro-American Society 148 Ahmad, Gul 281 Al Wheeler Activity Center 129, 158, 164, 186, 198, 209, 230, 253, 266, 271 Alaniz, Armando 216 Alaniz, Heather Hanson 216 Albers, Skylar 276 Albertson, Serena 271 Allen, Phog 106 Allgood, Rex 162 Alpha Chi 87, 250 Alpha Mu Omega 87 Anderson, Ken 186, 208, 221, 260 Anderson, Millie 298 Antalek, Marie 124 Applegate, Kathryn 179 Applejack Festival 152 Armour, Barbara 26 Ashley, Dexter 26, 46 Asmussen, Kelly 232, 233, 239, 288 Atwood, Kylie 224 Auditorium 84, 85, 89, 150, 258, 259, 261, 263, 300 Backpack Program 252, 270 Bailey, Aaron 181, 187 Bailey, Russell 103 Baker, Barney K. 116 Ball, Sarah 203 Barclay, Alice 73 Barger, Michael 227, 234, 280, 293 Barrett, Clyde 154, 167 Barrett, Roland 166 Barrymore, Lionel 26 Bartlett, Jacob 262 Baumert, Steve 188 Beardslee, Eugene 291 Beattie, James A. 34, 36 Beautiful Brutus 152 Beger, Kim 278, 282, 283, 285 Bell, Kamau 257 Bell, Lydia 24 Benford, R.T. 118, 128, 143 Benford Hall 143 Bernstein, JB 257 Beta Beta Beta 87, 250 Bieganski, Gary 298 Billups, Katelyn 283 Bittner, Gina 269 Black Student Union 231, 291 Blackburn, Thomas 17 Blankenship, Esther 86 Blue Devils 112, 113 Boehme, Keith 196 Bolejack, Belle 40 Borass, Harold 130 Borchers, Tim 221, 235, 253, 256, 264, 268, 269, 282, 286, 288, 291, 295, 300 Borchers-Williams, Oliver 268 Borengasser, Kiana 234 Boshart, Mitch 249 Bouton, Rosa 36 Bowen, Abba Willard 76 Bowen, Tim 181 Boxley, Ken 104, 199, 200 Bradford, Arthur 100 Bradley, Nate 180, 185 Brain Quest 269 Brandt, Faye 139 Brewer, Nicholas Richard 64 Brewer and Shipley 150, 151 Briccetti, Thomas 166 Britt, Leonard E. 36 Brooklyn Bridge 150 Brown, Castle 103, 118 Brown, John 3 Brown, Kasey 294 Brown, Marion Marsh 90, 191 Brown, Roosevelt 168 Brownell Elementary School 48 Brownell, Herbert Jr. 122, 123 Brownell, Herbert Sr. 48, 54, 55, 67, 122, 123 Brownell, Samuel 122, 123 Browning, Everett 176 Bryan, William Jennings 24, 28, 50, 54, 257 Buchheit, Mike 196 Buggi, Wendi 227, 236, 290 Burch, Rev. Hiram 4, 5, 6, 8, 11 Burk, Amanda 301 Burns, Robert 182, 183, 185, 187, 191, 192, 193, 199 Burr, Briar 247

Cade, Eulanda 229 Callan, Clair 106 Camealy, Edward 152 Camera Club, 54 Campus Vistor and Interpretive Center 302, 307 Carbaugh, Raenna 184, 290 Carlisle, Bonnie Rutz 154, 157 Carpenter, Stan 200, 204, 209, 210, 211, 214, 216, 217, 218, 220, 226, 247, 253, 256, 271, 298, 300, 301, 302, 304, 305 Carroll, Kathy 300 Carsten, Cal 163, 164 Carter, W.R. 107 Casey’s General Store 188 Catterson, Cory 181 Caviness, E.L. 80, 81 Centennial Complex 155, 155, 174 Center for Achievement and Transitions Services 53, 157, 222, 226, 228, 229, 251, 294 Center for Engaged Learning 271, 272, 276, 282 Chadron State 62, 70, 104, 125, 159, 160, 166, 178, 185, 218 Chamberlin, Elizabeth 265, 266 CHANCE Initiative 273 Chandler, Yvonne 224 Chaney, John 298 Chapel and Gymnasium 50, 51 Chapel Annex, 24, 28, 85 Chatelain, Verne 74 Cheap Trick 177, 261 Chenette, Ed 146 Christ, John 118 Christen, Joan A. 192 Christensen, Doug 195 Christensen, Lois 245 Citrin, Anthony 265, 266 Clark, Esther 48, 90 Clark, Ruth E. 96 Clark, Terry 181 Clark, W.A. 41, 246 Clayburn, A.B. 118, 128, 143 Clayburn Hall 143 Clemente, Bill 192, 227, 235, 236, 237, 254, 264, 290, 300 Cleveland, Grover 50 Clopton, Deb 226, 234, 289 Clopton, Richard 234, 281, 289 Coatney, G. Robert 107 Cole, Daniel C. 4, 8, 9, 59 Color Song 57, 97, 150 Conkle, E.P. 91, 154, 258 Cook, Teairra 266 Cotner College 95 Cowboy Bob Ellis 152 Crabtree, James W. 25, 46, 47, 49, 58, 64, 80, 90, 91, 94 Craig, Tom 149 Cramer, Alan 153 Crecilius, Kohl 257 Creighton University 51, 128 Croce, Jim 150, 151, 261 Cromer, Becky 279, 281, 282 Crook, Sara 173, 184, 191, 198, 222, 226, 234, 238, 268, 283 Curry, Jennie 20 Curry, Robert 20, 21, 24 Curtis, Dennis 242 Daily, William 4, 6, 8, 9, 21, 87, 106 Dalrymple, Cheyenne 247 Dannelly, Lindsay 260 Davidson, Phyllis 96, 113, 142, 156, 245 Davidson, Wayne 178 Davidson Hall 142 Davis, Howard Pierce 102 Davis, Janessa 226, 229, 230, 231, 236, 289 Davis, Mac 150 Davis, Spencer 171, 182, 184, 197, 198, 226, 232, 235, 253, 255 Davis, W.T. 44 Decker, Freeman B. 136 Delzell, W.N. 79, 86, 90, 98, 99 Delzell Hall 99, 100, 101, 104, 122 Deshler, Diane 143 DeVore, George 128 Diddel, Norma 98, 128, 143, 260 Diddel Exhibition Court 143 Distinguished Speaker Series 257, 259, 289 Divney, Esther 182, 196 Doane College 155 Donovan, SaraBeth 237, 242, 244 Dorman, Jesse 224, 225, 295 Douglas, Ruby 189 Downey, Marlan 124 Downing, Jessie 75 Dramatic Club 52, 62, 91, 93, 161, 258

310 | INDEX

Drew, Todd 208 Dribble Drive 162, 163, 164 Duncanson, Henry 26, 31, 48 Dutton, Haley 280, 281 Dwine, Marty 166 Dyke, Dale 91 Earnest, Brooke 224, 277 Ebadi, Shirin 257 Eckert, Royal 154, 258 Ediger, Thomas 262, 302 Edmondson, William B. 168 Edris, David 155 Edris, Malinda 224 Eisenhower, Dwight 257 Eliza Morgan Hall 35, 63, 88, 89, 93, 101, 128, 129, 132, 218, 240, 241 Ellis, Mattie Cook 44, 61, 70, 73 Emporia State 152 Engles, Bob 194, 209, 302, 305 Epsilon Pi Tau 94, 98 Evans, Clayton 244 Evertson, Justin 207 Exon, J.J. 158, 159, 163, 164 Farnham, George L. 24, 25, 31 Farris, Madison 230 Fauver, Joseph 289 Feeding 44, 270, 271, 272, 288 Feighner, Dellyn 181 Fell, Arlene Borcher 134, 140, 141, 158, 211, 241, 242, 255, 298 Fell, Paul 139, 140, 141, 142, 181, 186, 241, 242, 255, 290, 298 Feltz, Firmin Q. 34 Filley, Horace C. 44 Fitch, Margaret 108, 109 Fithian, Floyd 122 Fleek, Haley 275 Florida Georgia Line 262 Floyd, Rex 116 Flynn, Richard 192, 193, 196, 197, 199 Ford, William D. 111 Fortney, Larry 259 Fortney, Patrick 235, 256, 259, 261, 262, 263 Fraser, Sir John Foster 75 Friedli, Doug 197 Friends of Distinction 150, 151 Friesen, Erv 254, 257, 263, 278 Fritch, Mark 181 Fritz, Judy 242 Fritz, Louis 242 Frye, Doris 75 Fuller, Abel B. 8, 9 Fusion program 230, 231 Gabus, Charles 102, 199, 200 Gabus, Frances 102, 200 Gabus, Jack 102, 200 Gaines, Stephen 181 Galardi, Greg 221, 233, 237, 288, 301 Gallentine, Jerry 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 178, 179, 183 Gandhi, Arun 257 Gauchat, Dan 181 Gearhart, Rev. A.C. 23, 31 Gebre, Tadiyos 229, 294 Geller, Elane Norych 257 Gengel, John 184 George, John 193 Gerdes, Scott 181 Gibbs, Brett 195 Gibbs, John 194 Gibson, Bob 128 Gilbert, Jim 189 Gilligan, Tim 242 Goebel-Lundholm, Mary 274 Golden Rod yearbook 44, 52 Gomon, Neal 116, 117, 119, 122, 123, 124, 125, 128, 129, 132, 135, 136, 138, 139, 141, 143, 146, 148,153, 155, 157, 159, 160, 190, 232 Good, Ellis 53 Good, Jacob 80 Good, Steve 146 Gottula, Ilma 240 Gottula, Ruth 160 Gowdy, A.K. 20 Gowdy, Alice E. Daily 20 Graf, Lon 86, 88, 246 Grand Island College 95 Grant, H.L. 20 Greathouse, Leonard 103 Green, Larry 153, 220, 221, 243, 244, 298 Green, Mary Jane 244 Green, Rod 187 Greer, Edith 119 Griffin, Brad 225 Griffith, Frank 25 Groff, Peggy 224

Grotrian, Judy 201, 236, 237, 244, 269, 283, 284, 298 Grotrian-Ryan, Sheri 237, 244, 273, 278, 284, 291, 292, 293 Guess Who, 150, 151 Guilliatt, Mike 242 Gupta, Vijay 257 Haack, Maxine Blinde 108 Hackbart, Ron 173 Hahn, Dick Jr. 158, 159 Halbert, Richard 203 Hall, Michael 160 Halladay, Bob 103, 105 Hallstrom, Dorothy Maynard 115 Hallstrom, Tom 115 Hamilton, Jack 168, 177 Haney, Mick 172 Hansen, Bob 180 Hansen, George 86 Hanson, Dan 210, 212, 214, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 223, 225, 231, 232, 236, 237, 240, 242, 247, 248, 249, 257, 258, 270, 274, 278, 285, 286, 289, 290, 297, 298, 300, 301, 302, 304, 305 Hanson, Elaine 214, 216, 223, 230, 231, 251, 252, 263, 272, 274, 275, 278, 285, 289, 290 Harmon, Mike 143 Harms, John 247 Harper, Chet 264 Harrison, Carlos 119 Harrison, Jeff 280 Harrison, Robert D. 86 Harshbarger, Jess 42 Harshbarger, Ted 42, 156, 162, 163, 164, 176, 187, 248, 249, 250, 254, 255, 307 Hasley, Kurt 185 Haverty, Pat 209 Hayes, D.W. 58, 61, 70, 80 Hayes, Danny 227, 233, 269, 292, 293, 298 Heck, John P. 105 Heidemann, Lavon 218, 247 Heineman, Dave 211 Henry, Rachel 270, 271 Henzel, Vince 187 Higher Learning Commission 286 Hill, Matt 302, 303 Hingle, Pat 91 Hinrichs, Paul 228 Hinshaw, William Wade 59, 60 Hippen, Valerie 196 Hispanic Latino Student Association 291 History Day 268, 269 Hoeman, Gary 160 Hohmann, Walter 57 Holder, Alvin 144, 168, 172 Holtz, Dan 184, 191, 197, 198, 202, 209, 227, 234, 239, 268, 290 Homecoming 81, 83, 160, 189, 259 Hope Normal 29 Hopper, Je’Kerra 288 Hoppner, Bill 193 Hosic, James 91 Houston, Bob 233 Howard, George Elliott 12, 13, 50, 67, 74, 89 Hoyt, Wilbur 48, 54, 70, 71, 75, 88, 89 Hoyt Science Building 15, 16, 25, 50, 88, 89, 190, 194, 197, 200, 206, 281, 289 Hoyt Street Jazz Ensemble 263, 306 Hug, Haevyn 294 Hug, Matt 181 Humphrey, Chuck 181 Hunt, G. Talbot 66 Hutchison, Christy 292 Industrial Arts Club 157, 177 Inside-Out program 232, 239 Irwin, Sheri 207 ITI Marketing Services 188 Jackley, Jessica 257 Jacobsen, LInda 207 Janis, Michael 137 Janis, Virginia Adkins 137 Jimerson, J.A. 104 Jindra, Victor 82, 94, 97, 98, 117, 128, 139, 143, 190 Jindra Fine Arts Building 25, 137, 138, 139, 141, 143, 155, 186, 190, 263 Joan Jett and the Blackhearts 177, 261 Johanns, Mike 193 John J. Pershing College 158 Johnson, Ben 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 206, 207, 209 Johnson, Harold 137

Johnson, Tony 284 Jones, Barb Fritz 148, 150, 154, 156, 157 Jones, Darrin 190 Jones, Corky 194 Jones, Wanda 257, 258 Joy, Anna Moorhead 12, 13, 50, 59, 89, 90, 96, 175, 301 Joy, Jerry 162, 168, 172, 181 Joy, Mike 175 Joy, W.A. 12, 13 Jung, Leota 96 Kaiser, Michelle 184, 226, 238, 298 Kappa Delta Pi 87, 97, 98 Kappa Omicron Rho 291, 293 Kearney, Connie 224 Kearney, Liz 234 Kearney State 61, 110, 125, 133, 178, 183 Keenan, Caroline 258 Keene, Ruth 275 Kennedy, B.E.B. 34 Kennedy, Ruth Courtright 73, 74 King, Martin Luther Jr. 146, 258 Klein, Sam 188 Klemetsrud, Mark 258 Kobza, Klint 203 Kolkman, Rick 192 Korbelik, Rondel 181 Krause, Carroll 191 Krause, Kevin 195 Krause, Todd 195 Kreifels, Nicki 188 Krofta, Tammy 173 Krug, Jennifer Joy 175, 301 Kruger, Ellen 175 Kruse, Paul 182 Kunkel, Ellie 236, 266, 286, 287, 294 Kyle, Newt 112 Lade, Bob 120 Lafayette, Barb 146 LaGreca, Celann 178 Lambert, Brandi 202 Land, Mickey Lee 160 Lantz, Louie 181 Larsen, Ellen 276 Larsen, Pat 168 Larson, A.V. 86, 98, 128 Lauber, John 275 Leo, Jeff 181 Lewellyn, Barb 194 Lewellyn, Bob 194 Library (1889) 25, 31, 55 Library (1906) 52, 53, 138, 195 Library (2003) 202, 203, 204, 222, 295, 296 Lieneman, Donald 111 Liewer, Shannon 250 Lincoln Journal 181 Lincoln Star 58 Lippitt, E.M. 20 Little Red Schoolhouse 201, 302, 306 Livingston, Beulah 244 Lloyd, Shane 246 Long, Daryl 142, 143, 153, 155, 170, 174, 184, 191, 226, 244, 256 Longfellow, Ernest 142 Lopez, Bob 200 Loveless, Jane 4 Loveless, Joseph 4 Lowe, Richard 122 Luebke, Frederick 29 Lutz, Brenda 267 Lygrisse, Nate 208 Lytle, Truman 100 Majors, A.D. 114, 129, 136, 137 Majors, Sterling P. 12, 137 Majors, Thomas J. 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 21, 30, 32, 33, 44, 53, 59, 61, 64, 65, 70, 76, 81, 84, 87, 88, 106, 114, 119, 136, 137, 154, 155, 260, 299 Majors, Wilson 8, 10, 12, 30, 137, 154 Malcom, Alex 181 Mam, Somaly 257 Manring, Darryl 119 Marsh, Genevie 90 Martin, Jerome 199 Martin, Perry M. 10 Masopust, Joe 162 Mathews, L.B. 102, 128, 129, 143, 146 Mathews, Mark 192 Mathews, Max 146 Mathews, Ruth 129, 146 Mathews Hall 143 Mathis, Abby Hanson 216 Mathis, Shane 216 Matteen, Ella 267 Matteen, James 267 Maupin, Will M. 87 Maxwell, Paul 98, 116

May Fete 60, 135 McAndrews, Kyle 293 McArdle, Betty 100 McBrien, J.L. 18 McCauley, Laura 226 McCollum, Elizabeth 115 McGooden, Barry 181 McIntire, Jack 103, 129, 134, 153, 243, 246 McKenzie, Charlotte 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 44, 59, 65, 106 McKenzie, John M. 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 21, 44, 59, 65, 74, 106, 190 McKercher, Lyle 177 McLaughlin, Melvin O. 33 Mears, Louise W. 9, 12, 19, 36, 52, 61 Meeink, Frank 257 Mehre, Harry 120 Meier, Veronica 222, 254, 295, 296 Meland, Marie 223, 226, 228, 229, 251 Meyer, Arthur 135 Mickey, John H. 50 MIdland College 170 Mikkelsen, Tom 148 Milke, Cameron 271 Miller, John H. 12 Milsted, O.J. 81 Mohling, Wendell G. 138 Monahan, Kelsey 267 Monte de Ramos, Kyle 254 Moore, Clyde B. 91 Moore, Robert 100, 146 Moore, Wes 257 Morgan, Eliza 16, 17, 20, 35, 82 Morgan, Joy Elmer 59, 174 Morgan, Thomas J. 17, 18 Moritz, R.D. 30 Morton, J. Sterling 50 Mosley, Lester 103 Mount Vernon 2 Mount Vernon Academy 3 Mount Vernon College 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 Mount Vernon Hall 6, 7, 12, 31, 34, 35, 56, 89, 109, 129, 130, 132, 133, 190 Mudra, Darrell 120 Mullen, Martha 136 Music Hall 137, 139 Naber, Anna 283 Nader, Ralph 257 National Alumni Association 141, 211, 241, 255, 290, 298 Naviaux, J.H. 91 Nazario, Sonia 257 Neal, J.F. 4, 5, 6, 59, 142 Neal Hall 142 Nebraska State Historical Society 62 Nebraska Statewide Arboretum 207 Nebraska Territorial Legislature 8 Nebraska University 5 Nebraska Wesleyan 155, 162 Neeman, Jerry 148 Neihardt, John 76, 149, 257 Nelson, Ben 183, 193 Nelson, Trey 298 Nemaha Valley Seminary 4, 8, 11 Neveau, Adam 230, 289 Nevitt, James 235 Nicholas, William L. 110, 111, 114, 115, 116, 142 Nicholas Hall 142 Niemeyer, Colin 280, 281, 297 Nies, Kristi 227, 231, 302, 304 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band 150 Normal Cadets 26, 27, 35, 46, 48, 258 Normal Catholic Association 56 Normal Courier 31, 36 Normal Hall 14, 15, 16, 24, 28, 31, 36, 58, 85, 88, 89, 139 Normal Journal 31 Normalite 31, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 79, 85 North Central Association of Colleges and Schools 61, 96, 134, 185, 286 Norton, A. Wellington 32, 33, 34, 97 Oak Bowl 41, 42, 43, 44, 90, 91, 123, 129, 150, 240, 241, 246, 247, 254, 255, 298 Oak Glen Dormitory 41 Oak Leaf yearbook 52 Obama, Michelle 273 Observatory 31 Offutt, Jarvis 72

O’Hara, Paul 193 Olsen, Elizabeth 205 Omaha University 51, 96 Omaha World-Herald 25, 32, 33, 87, 117, 179, 204, 208 O’Rourke, Peg 199 Orcutt, Gunnar 293 Orr, Kay 178 Otoe Tribe 4 Overall, Eulalia 36 Paben, Logan 184, 226, 236, 238, 249, 250, 251 Palmer, Nona 142 Palmer Hall 142 Palmerton, Tom 201 Pappas, Carol 183 Pappas, Larry 183 Parker, Fess 91 Parriott, Lisa 268, 269 Parry, Brenna 275 Pascal, Dick 111 Pate, Mildred 102 Pate, Walter R. 84, 87, 91, 94, 96, 102, 103, 107, 109, 110, 111, 142, 190 Pate Hall 142 Patterson, Bea 194 Patterson, John 194 Pearson, Douglas W. 158, 160, 165 Pedagogian 31, 85, 92, 100, 101, 108, 110, 124, 128, 130, 135, 146, 148, 149, 176 Perdue, James 97 Peru Academy 6 Peru Chamber of Commerce 170 Peru City-Wide Cleanup 252, 275, 291 Peru Disc Golfers Association 291 Peru Enterprises Inc. 174 Peru Players 161, 177, 189 Peru Seminary 6 Peru State College Foundation 124, 125, 128, 133, 146, 153, 174, 195, 200, 204, 208, 221, 227, 237, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 247, 253, 254, 255, 259, 262, 263, 277, 285, 298, 300 Peru State Education Association 264 Peru State Normal Choral Society 60 Peru State Times 31, 176, 188 Peru Theatre Company 259, 301 Peruvian yearbook 52, 69, 81, 82, 83, 86, 92, 98, 99, 106, 109, 126, 128, 140, 149, 160, 166, 167, 175 Petersen, Reagan 268 Petersen, Sheli 222, 235, 237, 260, 271, 283, 288 Peterson, Carter “Cap” 298 Peterson, Val 119 Petri, Leo Henry 107 Pettit, Edison 31, 54, 75, 122 Pettit, George 31 Pfeifer, Sam 181 Phi Alpha Theta 226, 298, 307 Phi Epsilon Kappa 87 Phi Beta Lambda 87, 175, 288, 291, 292, 293 Philomathean Society 10, 30, 54, 59, 82, 88 Pi Gamma Mu 118 Pilkington, Jim 139 Pingel, Jaci 190 Pitts, Ervin 164 Porter, George N. 57 Potter, James E. 5, 27, 62 Powers, David 203 President’s house 80, 223, 290 Prestige Show Choir 262 Pribnow, Marisa 255 Propst, Becki 154, 161, 169, 196, 298 Propst, Kent 154, 168, 169, 175, 178, 179, 182, 185, 191, 198 Rachow, Bill 105 Rader, Ben 156 Rader, Beulah 63 Rain, Michael 177 Ralston, Orville 72, 105 Reddy, Helen 150, 261 Reed, Betsy 194 Reed, Eleanor Capitola 36 Reed, Ralph 148 Reed, Wayne O. 116 Rehmeier, Lynn 162 Reisen, Rick 187 Remmers, Maxine 242 Richardson, Dennis 257, 289 Riley, Cornelius 180, 181 Rippe, Pat 235

Rischling, Ryan 181 Rivett, Carrie L. 90 Rosenberg, Guy 162 Rosewater, Edward 33 Rothmiller, Melvin 104 Rotoract 272, 289 Rouse, E.L. 70, 79, 80 Routh, Warren 108 Rumbaugh, Sheri 183 Rumpeltes, Gale 155 Rural Health Opportunities Program 220, 279, 280, 281, 290, 297 Ruskamp, Judith 264, 290 Russell, Lester 184 Ryan, Kyle 224, 228, 235, 244, 253, 271, 273, 291, 293 Rynaski, Joan 173 Saban, Lou 185 Saban, Tom 185 St. Francis College 95 Sapp, Bill 95, 240, 247 Sapp, Emily Hupka 95, 240 Sapp, Hurless 95 Sapp, Lee 240, 241, 247 Sapp, Lucille 240 Sapp, Veloura 95, 240 Sapp, Zelma 95, 240 Schlange, Kevin 177 Schlimme, Matt 203 Schneider, Steve 246, 248, 249, 250, 251, 255, 267 Schottenhamel, George 154 Schottenhamel, Lilian 154 Scott, Will 252 Searson, J.W. 14, 65 Seay, Darolyn 269 Seay, Greg 220, 239, 282 Shea, Tom 180, 185 Shepherd, William 102 Sherman, Shawn 233 Sherwood, Leland 132, 165, 186, 260 Shroyer, John 81 Sigma Tau Delta 87 Simon, Paul 122 Simpson, Michelle 237 Simpson, O.J. 185 Simpson, Todd 221, 227, 237, 241, 242. 243, 244, 245, 247, 253, 259, 262, 263, 277, 285, 300, 301 Sims, Corday 251 Sioux Falls College 95 Skov, Leonard 199 Slater, Kellie 239 Smith, Jane 278, 285 Smith, Max G. 155 Smith, Randel 278 Snake, Reuben Jr. 140 Snyder, William 178, 179, 181, 185 Southeast Community College 187, 201, 202, 220 Southeast Nebraska Partners for Progress 282 Spelts, Carl 132 Stauffer, Gregory 187 Steck, G. Holt 100 Stephens, Bobby 181 Stoddard, Alexander 58 Stoner, Lillian 40, 56, 76 Straight, Henry H. 14 Strawhacker,, Shandi 271 Strittmatter, Brent 181, 187 Stronger Economies Together 282 Student Army Training Corps 74 Student Center 7, 35, 129, 132, 133, 135, 176 Student Success Services 229 Stutesman, Joan 188 Sullivan, Bryan 181 Sullivan, Scott 181 Summers, Silas 177 Surette, Tamara 183 Sweetland, Paul C. 104 Sylvester, Stephen 205 Symphony Club 38 T.J. Majors Building 45, 63, 64, 65, 134, 178, 179, 215245, 299 T.J. Majors Training School 64, 78, 79, 80, 124, 135, 142, 179, 264 Taft, William Howard 54 Tande, Korinne 222 Tangeman, Larry 166, 167, 168, 170 Tarkio College 152 Taylor-Costello, Julie 271, 272, 276, 277, 282 Tecumseh State Correctional Institution 232, 233, 239, 288 Telecommunications Marketing Inc. 174 Theye, Jamie 273

Thompson, S.R. 18 Thorson, Winston 100 Tiemann, Norbert 141 Trails and Tales 184, 234 Trapp, Jenny 260 Trecek, Becky 221 Trecek, Carrie 221 Trecek, Cathy 221 Trecek, Debbie 221 Trecek, John 221 Trickey, Minnijean Brown 257, 258 Trinity College 95 Tune, Tommy 91 Tynon, Kathy 224 Tynon, Margaret 179 Uhlir, Tony 181 University of Nebraska at Kearney 62, 159, 178, 182, 183 University of Nebraska at Omaha 178, 190, 192, 193 University of Nebraska-Lincoln 9, 46, 48, 51, 155, 156, 158, 166, 173, 178, 181, 191, 193, 261 University of Nebraska Medical Center 178, 220, 279, 280, 281, 297 Urwin, Al 230, 247, 254, 255 Urwin, Cheryl 254 Urwin, Michael 254 V-5 program, 102, 105 V-12 program 102, 103, 104, 105, 111 Van Dyken, Amy 257 Vance, Stacy 128 Vance, T.E. “Ed” 26, 50, 54 Varley, Lou 251 Vetville 111, 123 Victor, Benjamin 254 Viera, Cristina 253 Villa, Pancho 70 Vocal Studio 262 von Rentzell, Don 204 Vrtiska, Doris 206 Vrtiska, Floyd 192, 197, 206 Walker, Arnold 96 Walkup, Sam 181 Walsh, Chris 168 Ward, Fredd 187 Wayne State 62, 97, 125, 160, 178, 220 Weare, Hazel 118 Webb, Earl 120, 121 Weber, Marty 136 Wellenstein, Drew 280 Welsh, Dennis 220, 279, 280, 281, 285 Welsh, Kathy 139 Wenzl, Jim 181 Westhart, Brandie 293 Wey, Charles 26 Wheeler, Al 97, 103, 104, 105, 112, 115, 120, 121, 128, 129, 135, 160, 209, 246 Wheeler, Al Jr. 209 Wheeler, Frances 135, 160 White, Lora 187 White, Kory 230 White Angels 112, 113 Whitenack, E.A. 48 Whitney, Nina 271 Whitington, Anna May 260 Wilcox, Baldy 86 Williams, A.D. 16 Williams, Andrea 149 Williams, Tennessee 91, 256, 258 Willis, Michaela 218 Wilson, Gilbert 154 Wineglass, Ivan 187 Winter, J.M. 100 Wirth, Willis 107 YMCA 29, 56 YWCA 29, 48, 56, 94 Yont, J.G. 30 Young, Etta 73, 76 Young, Josh 259 Zeiss Jess 298 Zook, Alica 224 Zook, Owen 243 Zost, Greg 234 Zost, Loretta 234

CREDITS AUTHOR Dan Sullivan DESIGNER Christine Zueck-Watkins EDITORS Jeff Alessandrelli Wendi Buggi Ted Harshbarger Jason Hogue Nicole Hilder Rebecca Johnson Amy Mincer Rich Mills Kathy Sullivan Faith Thomas Pam Thomas RESEARCH Jason Hogue Michelle Kaiser PHOTOGRAPHY Angela Allgood Wendi Buggi Bill Clemente Promise DeBilzan Paul and Arlene Fell Ted Harshbarger Jason Hogue Brandi Hull Rebecca Johnson Malone and Co. Peru State College Foundation Kent and Becki Propst Omaha World-Herald Kellen Sailors Dan Sullivan Christine Zueck-Watkins ILLUSTRATIONS Brandi Hull

INDEX & CREDITS | 311

Nebraska’s First College

1867-2017

SHA PI NG T H E F U T U R E SI NC E 18 6 7 PERU STATE COLLEGE celebrates its 150th year in 2017.

The Nebraska school’s history is a rich tapestry of innovation, endurance, community service and pursuit of educational excellence.

Celebrate the sesquicentennial with a look back through the remarkable story that began with a vision on a hilltop in Peru.

PERU STATE COLLEGE

600 HOYT STREET PERU, NEBRASKA 68421 1-800-742-4412 WWW.PERU.EDU

$39.95

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