Charles Ahovissi was appointed to the Malaika Foundation Board in 2020. He is the founder and Executive Artistic Director for African Culture Connection. This magnificent dance group, based in Omaha, has worked with schools throughout Nebraska “to encourage people to increase their knowledge of African culture, using traditional African arts that relate to the values and principles of traditional African society and life”. www.africancultureconnection.org
2015 Winners:
Back: Holly Podliska, UNL Freshman, Ag Education Major; Brianne Haskell, Lyons-Decatur; Connor Jolley, Millard North; Kate Erdkamp, Waverly; Katie Reed, Holdrege; Sarmistha Prathivadhi Bhayanka, Millard North.
Front Row:Cheyenne Gerlach, Tri County; Michayla Goedeken, Humphrey; Jenna Mu, Brownell Talbot College Prep; Josie Solvut, Millard North; Morgan Tranmer, UNL Sophomore, Integrated Science Major.
Nebraska Hank Beachell Delegates with His Excellency, Olusegun Obasanjo, Former President of Nigeria, Global Youth Institute - World Food Prize-The Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium, 2010.
Rose Medill, Hank Beachell Delegate, Pius X High School, Lincoln and Sheila Sievert, Pius X Teacher with Dr. Natalie Hahn, Malaika Founder and President.
Initiated in 2007, the Nebraska Youth Institute has engaged approximately 1,900 students with globally-focused agricultural research projects, classroom activities and community-based service opportunities to help fight hunger in their local community, across Nebraska and throughout the world. Two-hundred and fifty students have participated in the one-day Nebraska Institute on the UNL campus joined by teachers and parents. The luncheon at the event honors Dr. Hank Beachell, a native of Waverly, Nebraska, who created nine rice varieties, which eventually accounted for more than 90% of the U.S. long grain rice production. Beachell has been called the most important person in rice improvement in the world.
Initiated in 2007, the Nebraska Youth Institute has engaged approximately 1,900 students with globally-focused agricultural research projects, classroom activities and community-based service opportunities to help fight hunger in their local community, across Nebraska and throughout the world. Two-hundred and fifty students have participated in the one-day Nebraska Institute on the UNL campus joined by teachers and parents. The luncheon at the event honors Dr. Hank Beachell, a native of Waverly, Nebraska, who created nine rice varieties, which eventually accounted for more than 90% of the U.S. long grain rice production. Beachell has been called the most important person in rice improvement in the world.
In 2020, 34 students from 16 schools participated. With the COVID 19 virus, the students were chosen with ZOOM presentations and essay reviews. The winners of this group will be announced in late summer, 2020, and invited to attend the Global Youth Institute at the Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium, hopefully in October 2020.
The application process for 2021 applications will be announced in November 2020.
Outstanding Nebraskan students attending the Global Youth Institute have been awarded fellowships and internships. Eleven have served as USDA Wallace-Carver Fellows including Rose Medill, Lincoln, Cole Wilhelmi, Omaha, and Elizabeth Westendorf, Lincoln. Nebraska winners for the Borlag-Ruan International Interns include Cole Edick of Waterloo, assigned to Costa Rica, Morgan Tranmer of Wilber, serving in Kenya, Mohit Jain of Omaha assigned to China and Deppa Joshi of Omaha, serving in China.
The honor recognizes the achievements of Dr. Beachell, a native of Waverly, Nebraska, who created nine rice varieties, which eventually accounted for more than 90% of the U.S. long-grain rice production. Beachell has been called the most important person in rice improvement in the world. Forty-two Nebraska students have been recognized as Hank Beachell Delegates for their outstanding essays and awarded a trip to the World Food Prize Youth Institute in Des Moines.
Visit www.casnr.unl.edu/worldfoodprize and www.worldfoodprize.org for more information.
The Listen to the Land—Students as Historians Grants award $250.00 to students for outstanding essays.
To be a great American Ambassador, it’s essential to know one’s heritage and history. Thus, Malaika and the Nebraska Museum of Art invite young persons, grades 4-12 to write the history of their family or their community. This classroom project allows students to become historians through the creation of essays, poetry, class-made books, digital stories, plays or interviews researching Nebraska Heritage and History. This award is in recognition of the late Dr. Robert Manley, an eminent Nebraska historian. The outstanding submissions will receive $300.00.
Dr. Manley inspired thousands of Nebraskans with his lore of the prairie and its settlers. He was an educator for over 50 years, a TV and radio personality, and wrote extensively about Nebraska. He is remembered for his recording of the Nebraska State Song, Beautiful Nebraska. Dr. Manley believed that, “in order for people to have a future, they must first know they have a past.”
Grant Deadline: applications accepted on a continuous basis. Download brochure.
For more information, contact the Museum of Nebraska Art (MONA) at(308) 865-8559.
Completed applications can be mailed to:
The Nebraska Museum of Art
2401 Central Avenue
Kearney, NE 68847
Raymond Plank, Fund for Teachers Founder
Lee Kallstrom, teacher at Omaha North High Magnet School in the Engineering Magnet, visiting Madagascar.
Fund for Teachers 2021 Applications will open on October 1, 2020. Visit fundforteachers.org and link to the Application Learning Center for details on applying.
Fund for Teachers has provided “…trips of a lifetime” to over 40 teachers. So far, Nebraska teachers have traveled to more than 20 countries on five continents.
Malaika recognizes and appreciates founder Raymond Plank, executive director Karen Kovach-Webb, and Fund for Teachers for benefitting thousands of Nebraska students by providing our teachers educational travel opportunities.
Fund for Teachers awards fellowships for self-designed professional growth to PreK-12 teachers who recognize the value of inquiry, the power of knowledge, and their ability to make a difference.
Each Fund for Teachers fellowship is as unique as the teacher who designed it, and since 2001, 5,500 teachers have been awarded $20 million in Fund for Teachers grants – up to $5,000 for individuals, or $10,000 for teams. Fund for Teachers fellowships have taken place in 120 countries on every continent, empowering teachers to explore countless ideas, terrains, and cultures.
Information on previous Nebraska recipients of the Fund for Teachers Awards:
Download Fund for Teachers Fellows-2011
Download Nebraska Fellows-Fund for Teachers and Malaika, Summer 2010
2014 FUND FOR TEACHERS GRANTEE
Melissa Kandido of Beveridge Magnet Middle, Omaha
Melissa traveled to Namibia to examine local history and culture through performing, visual and utilitarian arts to create a hands-on curriculum that increases global awareness through videos, distance learning and service learning.
To Apply
The fellowship application asks teachers to thoughtfully consider not only what objective they’d like to pursue, but also why, and how they foresee the proposed experience making a difference for them as teachers, for their students, and for their school community.
Click here for program information.
Fund for Teachers is dedicated to fostering opportunities that bring fresh perspective, expertise and broad world knowledge into classrooms. For more information, email info@fundforteachers.org, visit www.fundforteachers.org or call 1-800-681-2667.