As we gear up for this year's Pony Up For Kids 2025 event, Oct 28-30, we have to share an article that former Partnership Plan board member, Dick Edstrom, recently mailed to us.
This article, originally published on March 8, 1998, was celebrating the first 10 years of The Partnership Plan. Now that we are in our 37th year serving this incredible district, we have so much to be proud of, but some things haven't changed:
We continue to benefit from an incredibly talented board of directors and volunteers who give their time, talent and treasure to improve the lives of students across our district.
We are blessed to have the unwavering support of so many community leaders, business and foundations to make our work possible.
YOU! You are still the heartbeat of our work. Your support enriches and enhances the education students across the district get every day. YOU bring WONDER to the classroom. As Beverly Skoglund so eloquently said all those years ago- Hurray for you!
Read the full article below
Mark your calendars to join us as we strive to raise $30,000 to support classrooms across our district in our annual fundraiser and online auction: Pony Up For Kids, October 28-30, 2025. www.ponyupforkids.org
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Partnership Plan for Stillwater Area Schools is 10 years old. Wow!
~Beverly Skoglund, Columnist, Copied from article originally published in the Stillwater Gazette on March 8, 1998.
I love it! Students take center stage for the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Partnership Plan for Stillwater Area Schools.
For the evening anniversary celebration, art students will be presented through their works of art in an exhibit and an auction of their work. Students will learn what it means to be an artist, the work it entails, the preparation required for an exhibit. Each piece of art has been created just for the Partnership benefit on April 16.
Students from elementary through high school will present their original artwork on the evening's theme, The Rhythm of Life. Plus, the exhibiting students will learn the thrill of seeing art collectors, Partnership supporters, friends, teachers, parents, bid dollars for the opportunity to own a piece of their art work to proudly hang in their office, home or business.
How appropriate! The students will also learn about giving time, talent and support for a worthy cause - enrichment and enhancement activities for the Stillwater area student body through the Partnership Plan. As a long-time supporter of the Partnership Plan, I was looking forward to news about the staff talent show. The shows in the past have been rich with new, previously unknown talents and ·surprises, but a celebration of the Partnership by highlighting the students' talents, accentuates the focus and reason for the Partnership - students.
Music shares top billing with art for the celebration of the Partnership's 10 years of growing. A Partnership program wouldn't be complete without music from the music departments. Bless their hearts! Music directors Erik Christiansen, Larry Neuman and Jim Hainlain once again find time to bring out their best musicians for the evening. The Vagabonds bring song to the event; the Dixieland Band will give the event pep, and the String Quartet sets the stage for quiet celebration. Award winning student vocalists and musicians deliver a strong message of excellence in performance.
Sharing the stage with the students will be the Valley Chamber Chorale. The Valley Chamber gave the theme for the evening, "The Rhythm of Life," from a song to be performed of the same name . My applause to Carol Carver and this. group of wonderful people who dedicate time and talent to make community music and show their support for the Partnership Plan with their appearance.
Another "I love it" goes to the volunteer board members of the first Partnership Plan Board of Directors. They will join Honorary chairs, Orv and Kathy Johnson and Melva and David Radtke, as hosts for the evening.
Although the Valley community supports the Partnership with their dollars and their time and enthusiasm again and again, this group of hosts can be thanked for their foresight in proposing and developing a business/education Partnership. The first Partnership Board had the dedication to see it develop and support it with months of leadership and dollars to create the mission and the programs.
Orv Johnson served on the Task Force that proposed a partnership for education with business. The Task Force thought a business partnership was a good idea. Johnson once commented that of all the task force proposals for District 834's future, he thought the one that would take the longest to become reality would be the Partnership, but "I was wrong. It has developed quicker and to a fuller degree than ever imagined."
Dick Edstrom, Bruce Beutel, Mike Adams, Roberta Opheim, Steve Sherod, John Serier, Tom Cole, Vi Russell, Dave Wettergren, Deb Drommerhausen, Marty Rossini, Jerry Foley, and Bob Bonine are just some of the "first" to serve to enrich and enhance education in Stillwater Area Schools. What drive! What energy these people demonstrated.
Tears come to my eyes remembering the hours they spent serving/creating the first Partnership Board. The dedication! But they are not alone.
The list of the community leaders, businesses, foundations, individuals that helped by giving dollars, by giving time, by helping the Partnership staff, by making suggestions, YOU, each one, made the ten years fly. YOU made it possible to celebrate ten years of added enrichment and enhancement for our students. Hurray for you!
Plan to help celebrate the occasion. See you there! April 16 at Still water Area High School from 7-9 p.m. ....
Beverly Skoglund is a freelance writer whose columns normally appear in the Stillwater Evening Gazette on Thursdays. She is the former facilitator for the Partnership Plan.