Monty Nielsen vividly remembers being taught by his mother, Neva Nielsen, in a one-room rural school in Nebraska. He witnessed firsthand her passion and enthusiasm for teaching. Nielsen said his mother knew she wanted to be a teacher ever since she was a young girl growing up in south-central Nebraska. She enjoyed teaching despite the challenges of instructing in a one-room rural school during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.
“My mother said upon retirement from teaching that she would not have traded being a teacher for any other career,” Monty Nielsen said. Neva Nielsen taught for 30 years in several rural and small city elementary schools in south central Nebraska, capping her career at North Ward Elementary School in Superior. “She loved to teach, and she loved the children she taught. She cherished all of those relationships and the positive impact she had on her students’ lives.”
Neva Nielsen, a native of Bostwick, earned a Nebraska Elementary Teaching Certificate shortly after high school and began her teaching career in a one-room rural school in Webster County. She later began her pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in 1936 at age 20 and completed the degree at Kearney State College in 1970 at age 54, all while continuing to teach. She married Ervin Nielsen, a local farmer, in 1947, and they farmed around Abdal until 1970. Monty was their only son. Ervin died in 1972. Neva retired in 1982 after teaching for 30 years, and she died in 2010.
“Good teachers, such as my mother, are vital to all children and their education, so if this scholarship can help UNK students today and tomorrow achieve the levels of accomplishment and satisfaction in teaching that my mother did, then it will be a small contribution, a good thing, for which Neva would be pleased,” Monty Nielsen said. And most of all, I hope Neva’s story will be inspirational to them and instill in them that same sense of care and love for their students that she had for her students.”
Now living in Manhattan, Kan., Monty Nielsen has devoted his own life’s work to education through higher education administration and is also a University of Nebraska alumnus, with a bachelor’s degree from UNK and a Doctor of Education from UNL. He and his spouse, Anne Nielsen, have established the Neva Nielsen Elementary Education Scholarship in honor of his mother and her devotion to teaching. The permanent endowment was established with a $25,000 gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation and will forever provide annual scholarship awards to elementary education students at UNK who graduated from either Superior High School or Nelson High School in Nuckolls County.
“My mother said upon retirement from teaching that she would not have traded being a teacher for any other career,” Monty Nielsen said. Neva Nielsen taught for 30 years in several rural and small city elementary schools in south central Nebraska, capping her career at North Ward Elementary School in Superior. “She loved to teach, and she loved the children she taught. She cherished all of those relationships and the positive impact she had on her students’ lives.”
Neva Nielsen, a native of Bostwick, earned a Nebraska Elementary Teaching Certificate shortly after high school and began her teaching career in a one-room rural school in Webster County. She later began her pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in 1936 at age 20 and completed the degree at Kearney State College in 1970 at age 54, all while continuing to teach. She married Ervin Nielsen, a local farmer, in 1947, and they farmed around Abdal until 1970. Monty was their only son. Ervin died in 1972. Neva retired in 1982 after teaching for 30 years, and she died in 2010.
“Good teachers, such as my mother, are vital to all children and their education, so if this scholarship can help UNK students today and tomorrow achieve the levels of accomplishment and satisfaction in teaching that my mother did, then it will be a small contribution, a good thing, for which Neva would be pleased,” Monty Nielsen said. And most of all, I hope Neva’s story will be inspirational to them and instill in them that same sense of care and love for their students that she had for her students.”
Now living in Manhattan, Kan., Monty Nielsen has devoted his own life’s work to education through higher education administration and is also a University of Nebraska alumnus, with a bachelor’s degree from UNK and a Doctor of Education from UNL. He and his spouse, Anne Nielsen, have established the Neva Nielsen Elementary Education Scholarship in honor of his mother and her devotion to teaching. The permanent endowment was established with a $25,000 gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation and will forever provide annual scholarship awards to elementary education students at UNK who graduated from either Superior High School or Nelson High School in Nuckolls County.