Rushville teacher, CSC alum is Teacher of the Year in Nebraska

Phi Delta Kappa, an international professional education association, helped sponsor the Teacher of the Year program and assisted with the selection process.

Retzlaff said she will recommend that the $10,000 be used to purchase computers for the elementary teachers in Rushville.

Retzlaff, whose maiden name was Shannon, is a 1969 graduate of Rushville High School and a 1980 graduate of Chadron State College. She taught in Sheridan County rural schools for 17 years and has been on the Rushville faculty for 18 years, mostly as a middle school math teacher. With the consolidation of the Rushville and Gordon Schools this fall, she is serving as the guidance counselor for the Gordon-Rushville Middle School and the elementary school in Rushville.

This is not the first time Retzlaff has been honored. In 2003, she was the recipient of the Nebraska State Education Association’s Award for Teaching Excellence and was one of the five finalists for the National Education Association’s Award during a program in Washington, D.C., later in the year.

In addition, she received the Ike Friedman Teacher Leadership Award presented by Ak-Sar-Ben in 2003. That award included a $750 stipend, which she gave to the Rushville Schools to help start a pre-school program.

Both Adam Gardner, manager of the Chadron Wal-Mart Store, and Bill Tuma, superintendent of the Gordon-Rushville Schools, said Retzlaff is the type of teacher who makes a positive difference in the classroom every day.

“Sherry Retzlaff is an individual who believes in giving back to her community and her country. She takes great pride in her community and exhibits this by her involvement, enthusiasm and commitment to local causes,” Gardner said.

Tuma said Retzlaff has “dedicated her life to the children of Sheridan County” and has devoted “countless hours” before and after the normal school day and during the summers to self-improvement and assisting her students.

On Saturday, the day after Retzlaff received the award, she spent 10 hours in her office at the school “catching up,” as she put it.

Retzlaff is a member of the Sheridan County Extension Board, the Panhandle Substance Abuse Council and the newly-formed Rushville Community Foundation. She is the coordinator of the Sound Partners Program, a volunteer-based phonics curriculum in Rushville.

In addition, she helped secure a State Incentive Cooperative Agreement grant and is the coordinator for a drug and alcohol prevention program that is being adopted in Sheridan County, was one of the writers for juvenile justice and 21st Century grants that are being used for after-school programs in Rushville, Gordon and Crawford and wrote the application for a grant from the Nebraska Department of Roads to build walking/biking trails in Rushville and Gordon.

She also received a grant from the Panhandle Public Health District which paid for complete blood work-up for all students in grades 7-12 in Rushville. She has been a youth leader and Sunday school teacher at her church, has been a 4-H, Job’s Daughters, and Girl Scout leader and is a member of the Rotary Club and American Legion Auxiliary.

After receiving the honor, Retzlaff thanked her fellow teachers, the Rushville School support staff and the Rushville Board of Education for their support.

Retzlaff and her husband Kerry have two daughters. One is a teacher and other who is a senior in college preparing to teach.

A Chadron elementary teacher, Laurie Schmidt, who received her master’s degree from Chadron State in 1999, received the Nebraska Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year Award in 2001.