Brady Rohlfs, 1992 Syracuse-Dunbar-Avoca High School graduate, received the Freda Battey Distinguished Educator Award.
Rohlfs is a former S-D-A Public Schools music teacher. He currently is band director at Waverly High School.
The award is given to one “exemplary Nebraska secondary school teacher” each year by officials of the College of Education and Human Sciences (EHS) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL).
Rohlfs received the award at a luncheon given in his honor on the UNL campus. The award included an engraved school bell, a stipend for Rohlfs and a monetary award for Waverly High School officials. Rohlfs earned his bachelor of arts degree in music education from Midland Lutheran College, Fremont, in 1996. In 2003 he received his masters degree in music education from UNL. Rohlfs is currently working toward an administrative certificate at UNL.
Students at the UNL College of EHS submit nominations by identifying “a teacher whose role model encouraged you to be a teacher and tell us why this teacher is outstanding.” Criteria for selection are excellence in teaching and excellence in support of students in extracurricular activities, such as advising of students or initiation of student oriented programs.
Rohlfs was nominated by Hannah Hassler, 2006 S-D-A High School graduate student and current UNL student. Rohlfs received letters of recommendation from current colleagues, students and community members. The current student recommendation was written by Laura Clark, senior at Waverly High School.
The award was established in 1986 by Joan and Charles W. Battey of Shawnee Mission, Kan., and Marian (Battey) and Harold W. Andersen of Omaha, to commemorate the life and career of their mother and mother-in-law, Freda Drath Battey, a 1923 graduate of the University of Nebraska Teachers College who was a public school teacher in Ashland.
The selection committee consists of university professors within the UNL College of EHS from UNL as well as members of the Battey family.
Syracuse, Neb. —
