Quincy board, FFA boosters honored
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 8 months AGO
North Central Education Service District Superintendent Michelle Price, right, presents the ESD’s Board of the Year award to, from left, Quincy Superintendent Nik Bergman and board members Heather Folks-Lambert, Chris Baumgartner and Jack Foglesong.
COURTESY PHOTO/NORTH CENTRAL ESD
Quincy Superintendent Nik Bergman, left, with Quincy FFA Boosters members, from left, Kacey Kehn, Calvin Bushman and Jake Nix.
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | May 25, 2023 4:42 PM
WENATCHEE — The Quincy School Board was honored as the Board of the Year and the Quincy FFA Boosters received a Friends of Children award from the North Central Education Service District. The annual NCESD awards were announced May 22.
“The Quincy School Board exemplifies a student-centered approach in all that they do,” wrote Quincy School District Superintendent Nik Bergman in answer to a question from the Herald.
Bergman wrote that board members helped write the district’s updated strategic plan, and have worked to implement it throughout the school year.
“The (school board) was an integral guiding force in the strategic planning process from beginning to end, reviewing survey data, attending community and student input sessions, providing input along the way,” Bergman said during the NCESD awards ceremony.
“Every board meeting is dedicated to prioritizing and advancing the goals outlined in our strategic plan,” Bergman wrote.
The Friends of Children award goes to organizations and individuals that contribute to local schools within the ESD’s four-county area, just because they want to support young people, according to a NCESD press release.
Bergman nominated the FFA Boosters, and said its members donate money, time and labor to help ensure FFA members have what they need. The booster club’s 2023 auction raised about $70,000 for FFA activities, Bergman said. The money went to buy equipment and an irrigation system for the district’s 12-acre farm. Boosters also contribute their labor at the school farm.
“(The group) is dedicated to eliminating any obstacles that may hinder our students’ participation in the club,” Bergman wrote.
Booster club members work to make sure money isn’t an obstacle for kids who want to participate, Bergman wrote, and all their support has helped make Quincy one of the largest FFa chapters in Washington.
“The FFA Booster Club consistently goes above and beyond to champion what I firmly believe is the most exceptional agriculture program in the entire state,” Bergman wrote.
Cheryl Schweizer has been a reporter with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than a decade and may be reached at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.
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