A new event will be launched at this year’s Pathways to Success public forum prior to the banquet honoring Distinguished Alumni. Almost every person who has been named a Distinguished Alumni has mentioned how important different teachers were to their school years and life success. In response to those repeated messages, the Public Education Foundation of Albert Lea has created a new category of honorees to celebrate District 241 teachers/educators with the “They Lit the Way” award.

This inaugural group of 10 honorees will be introduced during the public forum. It will be at Wedgewood Cove beginning at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 13. The public is invited and encouraged to attend this free forum and the ticketed banquet event that follows to honor the four 2018 Distinguished Alumni.

The 2018  “They Lit the Way” honorees include Douglas Christopherson, Daniel Dittrich, Edna Gercken, Paul Goodnature, Earl “Jake” Jacobsen, Roger Lonning, Wallace Kennedy, LeRoy Maas, Robert Myers, and Sybil Yates. Gercken, Jacobsen, Kennedy, Maas, Myers and Yates will be honored posthumously.

The forum will feature a panel discussion, focusing on the value of education and the importance of outstanding teachers/educators who made a significant, life long impact on their students.  Foundation member and Distinguished Alumnus Manny Steil will moderate the panel. Members of the panel will include District 241 Superintendent Mike Funk; School Board Chair/ and ALHS grad Ken Petersen; school board member/foundation board member and ALHS grad Neal Skaar, and Distinguished Alumnus Jerry Tostrud. 

Distinguished Alumni being honored at the banquet include Florence Hansen Adair (class of 1926), awarded posthumously; Lowell D. Barr, M.D. (class of 1951); Steven Loken (class of 1968); and John R. Berthelsen (class of 1971).

Questions about the forum or about the banquet or the Education Foundation may be directed to Lilah Aas, foundation president, at edfound.al@gmail.com.