PAST PROGRAMS:

April 2026 - Circuit Sculptures
Participants explored dynamic connections between science and art by designing one-of-a-kind circuit sculptures. Inspired by creative problem-solving tools, Inductee words of wisdom and STEAM techniques, participants’ imaginations were powered up as they used mechanical and electrical energy to make their unique sculptures light up, rotate and move!

March 2026 - Build, Imagine, Tell: a LEGO Engineering Adventure
Think. Build. Tell. Innovate! This was a hands-on, minds-on journey where LEGO bricks weren't just for building—they were for creating stories! In this 2-hour action-packed seminar, students dived into the exciting world of engineering, design, and storytelling.

They brainstormed, designed, and constructed their own LEGO creations, all while tackling challenging problems that sparked creativity and advanced thinking. But here’s the twist—every build had a story! Students learned how to weave narratives into their designs, turning structures into experiences that captivated and inspired.

Through teamwork, innovation, and critical thinking, learners explored real engineering principles, solved complex design challenges, and answered thought-provoking DOK Level 4 questions—all guided by the PACE framework. By the end of the seminar, students weren't just building amazing creations—they were building stories, collaboration skills, and confidence in their problem-solving superpowers!

February 2026 - The Science and Art of Game Design: Play, Analyze, Create!
Analyze. Innovate. Play. Design. Step into the exciting world where strategy meets creativity! In this 2-hour seminar, students explored the secrets behind their favorite games, uncovering the mechanics, rules, and strategies that make games fun and challenging.

Then came the real adventure: they became game designers themselves! Using critical thinking, creativity, and teamwork, students crafted their own original games, guided by the PACE framework to take their ideas from concept to playable reality.

Along the way, learners sharpened higher-order thinking skills, collaborated with peers, and discovered the perfect balance of science and art behind game design. By the end, they weren't just players—they were creators of worlds, challenges, and endless possibilities!

November 2025 - "Bright Minds Wanted!" - An Immersive IFORD Seminar for Gifted & Talented Students
Got bright thinkers? Bring on the problem-solvers!"
Identiify . . . Facts . . . Options . . . Rank . . . Decide
Based on the IFORD Model, this 2-hour seminar included five action-packed stations that put students in teams to crack real-world challenges with student-led solutions, through building, acting, designing, and strategizing. Each session was filled with DOK Level 4 thinking, open-ended creative play, rapid team design rounds, real-time critical decision-making, and a final build and gallery walk to share their brilliance. Whether they're designing a playground, fixing a broken lunch system, or reinventing the community library, students walked away as confident, collaborative, changemakers.

October 2025 - "SCAMPER Your Way to Genius!" - A Hands-On Creativity Seminar for Gifted & Talented Students
Creative brains wanted to change the world . . . one brilliant idea at a time! Think it. Build it. Twist it. Tweak it. Improve it. SCAMPER it and turn it into something amazing!
Substitute . . . Combine . . . Adapt . . . Modify . . . Put to another use . . . Eliminate . . . Reverse
Unleash the inventor inside! In this two-hour hands-on seminar, gifted learners in grades 3-8 used the SCAMPER model to cycle through interactive stations, transforming everyday objects into surprising inventions, hilarious solutions, and wild innovations. Each grade band (3-4, 5-6, 7-8) received challenges tailored to their level, with hands-on building/dramatizing/creating, real-world scenarios and oddball prompts, DOK Level 4 tasks that stretch their brains, and a final showcase to celebrate their wildest ideas!

From pool noodles to puzzle pieces, students used their imagination and design thinking to push beyond the expected and into the extraordinary. Your students are full of ideas, and we gave them a place to let them loose!

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. 

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. 

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).

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. 

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! 

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.)