Two years ago I shared with you that we had added three words to the bottom of the School District of La Crosse logo. Those words, dream, believe and achieve, guide all of the work that we do in our schools as well as why we do it.
Ask any of our teachers why they went into the education profession and their response will include one or more of those three themes. We exist to guide the young people that walk through our doors, to help them dream, believe, and achieve.
This year we are highlighting the word achieve. We don’t have to look far to see the achievements and impact that graduates from the School District of La Crosse are having in our community and throughout the world. Our graduates are contractors, lawyers, business owners, teachers, and doctors. They have taken the skills they learned in our schools and they have combined them with their personal interests to shape their individual success. It is inspiring to hear the stories of risk, perseverance and success; including Central graduate Julie Sleik Mozumdar (’91) who owns Supercube LLC in Minneapolis, MN, or Rhonda (Kauffman) Rude (Logan ’82) who is a social worker for La Crosse County, or Heath Graves (Logan ’88) who serves as a school resource officer in our schools, and Central graduate Johnny Brevick (’03) who not only has a successful career as a creative marketing manager at Logistics Health Inc., but also co-founded the Hope Lives Foundation to support young people impacted by cancer.
Central graduate Danielle Trussoni (’92) recently returned to the area to share an excerpt from her New York Times best-selling book with the students at Central. She not only shared what the writing and publishing process is like for students, but also the importance of following your dreams and using your talents.
We are proud of our graduates’ and students’ achievements, some of which you will read about in this publication. We know that there are countless more stories of success and achievement that we could share with you. We also know that our students’ successes are the result of the strong support our community has for our schools. I thank you for that support, and I look forward to sharing our students’ achievements with you for years to come.
In Support of Our Kids,
Randy Nelson
Superintendent of Schools