PAST PROGRAMS:

March 2025 - Native American Ledger Art
Ed Encinas, Umoⁿhoⁿ Nation tribal member, is a ledger artist, muralist, craftsman, and traditional Hethuska dancer. He teaches high school art and beginning band at Umoⁿhoⁿ Nation Public School in Macy. He is the proud father of six children. Encinas takes the ledger art form in new directions with paintings on old checks, sheet music, and other pages from history. These documents, which are often of local origin, lead to conversations about our common history.    

Ledger art evolved from depictions marking brave deeds and other memorable community events, both celebratory and tragic, painted on tepee covers and winter count hides. From the beginning of the reservation era, government agents and other non-Natives became sources for paper, particularly from old ledger books (hence the name), along with pencils, pastel crayons, pens, and colored inks. While they were once ignored as important historical eye-witness documents, they rapidly became popular collector items, particularly in the early 20th century when promoted by Dorothy Dunn, an art instructor who began what became the Indian Art Institute of Santa Fe in 1932. The style is usually associated with Plains and Southwestern tribes. 

April 2025 - Edgerton Explorit Center
The Edgerton Explorit Center, located in Aurora, NE, is named after the late Dr. Harold Edgerton, Aurora native and former professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who was named as one of the 15 most influential inventors of the 20th Century by the National Geographic Society. Following his death, this hands-on science center was started to honor his memory. For this session, The EEC brought its "Explorit Zone" to ESU2's HAL students, offering a wide variety of hands-on exhibits and live science demonstrations. 

October 2024 - Wildlife Encounters
LINK: VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Wildlife Encounters is a non-profit organization out of Gretna, engaging students in wildlife conservation and environmental education. Students took a deep dive into animal habitats, roles in the food chain/web, classification, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) status, conservation, as well as other topics. (TEACHERS: CLICK HERE to access the "Wildlife Encounter Special Ops Challenge" .pdf for an additional enrichment activity after this session. Please submit final student projects to your RESTORE Instructional Coach.)

November 2024 - National Inventors Hall of Fame (gr. 3-5) & Droids, Jedis, Rebels, Scoundrels, & the Empire (gr. 6-8)
LINK: VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
HAL students in grades 3-5 worked to design and construct a project developed by the National Inventors Hall of Fame, an organization that honors the greatest inventors who have built the world around us, and seeks to inspire the innovators of tomorrow and challenge today's creative thinkers to design the future.

HAL students in grades 6-8 participated in a session called "Droids, Jedis, Rebels, Scoundrels, and the Empire: Star Wars, Political Science, and the Future of STEAM," developed and taught by  Dr. Jenny Miller, assistant professor in the History, Politics, and Geography Department at Wayne State College. In this program students learned how to debate the future of artificial intelligence using a format based on Star Wars. It was a lively debate! 

January 2025 - Robotics & Engineering (Cadre 2 Only)
LINK: VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Students in grades 3-5 attended a session taught by Snapology out of Elkhorn, NE, where they learned the basics of computer programming and engineering through interactive robotic builds and challenges. Students in grades 6-8 worked with Ross Udey, retired teacher and former robotics coach from Blair, who taught kids how to build and program Pitsco Education's Tetrix Prime Robotics. 

February 2025 - Theater Workshops
We were excited to offer two one-hour Theater and Movement workshops featuring esteemed Nebraska artists: "Theater and Improvisational Storytelling" with Fran Sillau, and "Movement and Commedia" with Carrie Nath. Both workshops aligned to state and national standards (click HERE  for more information). RESTORE students in grades 3-5 attended one session and grades 6-8 will attended the other, then they switched. 

Bios:
Fran Sillau - Over the past two decades, Fran Sillau has served as a teacher, writer, director, actor, and producer. With an extensive background in Theatre for Youth, Sillau has worked in Theatre for youth and arts education across the United States in fifteen states and the District of Columbia. He is the recipient of The Access Grant from The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Learn more about him at www.fransillau.com

Carrie Nath - Carrie A Nath is the Director of Equitable Access at BLUEBARN Theatre. Carrie has worked as a movement director, choreographer, and director for multiple theaters across the nation throughout her career as well as an art administrator. She has served as Managing Director of Ollie Webb Center, Inc.; Director of Education, Kentucky Arts Council; Associate Director of Education, Seattle Opera; and Education Consultant, Ford's Theater, D.C. Artistic credits include Actor’s Theatre of Louisville; Manhattan School of Music; multiple Shakespeare companies; and Washington National Opera. Carrie is an access consultant for Omaha Performing Arts and serves on their Voices Amplified Committee as well as an Opera Omaha Community Panel member. Ms. Nath is a Nebraska Arts Council (NAC) roster artist, is on their inclusion committee, and serves as a panelist for NAC and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).