Meet Miss Ondrea

My name is Ondrea Goranson and I'm a Junior at the University of NE. I'm extremely excited about working with the Impact Learning Center in its inaugural semester. As a Workshop Coordinator, I'll be using theater and drama as a technique to further my student’s education. I intend to utilize such tools as drama games and reader's theater to inspire the imagination of my students. I've titled my workshop class, "Dramashop". It is my desire that the students will see Dramashop as an opportunity to express their creativity, while inevitably improving skills in communication and public speaking.

I've grown up in Lincoln and I'm currently a double major in English and Broadcast Journalism. I've always enjoyed working with youth, whether it be on mission trips, my church Vacation Bible School or Campus Life. I love going to movies, creative writing, Mexican food, spending time with family and friends, attending Lincoln Berean Church, riding my bike and shopping at Target. I can't wait to travel the world and start a family of my own someday.

Meet Miss Jenna

My name is Jenna Gerstenschlager. I grew up in the small town of Palmyra, Nebraska with my mother, younger brother, and older sister. I was saved in the summer of 2001 and it was at that time it was as if the veil over my eyes was lifted and I finally understood the truth of the bible. At that point of time I decided to accept Christ as my savior. I graduated from Palmyra High School in May of 2006. I currently attend the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and am majoring in elementary education. Various babysitting jobs throughout high school helped cultivate my love for kids, and mission trips to Mexico opened my eyes to people less fortunate than me. I am excited to be working with youth and share the love of God with them.

My official title with the Impact Learning Center is a workshop coordinator. I am in charge of designing and planning different workshops that will be offered. We will explore such things as art, strategic games, and science. For this first quarter we will be doing a variety of art projects. The kids will be doing such things as drawing, making calendars, designing comic strips, and sculpting.

Welcome!

Welcome to Impact Learning Center’s official blog! In this technology day of age, we wanted to find the best possible ways for us to communicate what will be going on daily basis in the Impact Learning Center. As student’s lives are changed to make an impact, we want to capture those moments in stories and pictures to relay on to all of you.

Whether you are a volunteer of City Impact, supporter of City Impact and/or the Impact Learning Center, or just interested in what is going on I want to personally welcome you. My name is Bethany Larson and I will being the majority of the organizing of this blog. I am the Media Coordinator with Impact Learning Center. I have been working with City Impact since March 2006 in the development of the Impact Learning Center.

I am a student at UNL majoring in Middle Level Education. I grew up in Holdrege, Nebraska, but graduated from Papillion South High School. Through experiences with being a camp counselor, missions trips, and volunteering with the Hope Center in Omaha, my passion for kids has increased. I have enjoyed working for City Impact and the people of the community through the Impact Learning Center and Bible Club. Along with my job, I enjoy spending time with friends and family, running, reading and watching movies.

I am one of the nine staff members for the Impact Learning Center. Over the next week or so you will get a chance to meet the rest of the staff.

This blog is designed so the impact that is happening inside the walls of the Impact Learning Center is not kept there. If you are interested in what the Impact Learning Center is or want to learn more about City Impact, or would like to volunteer with us please visit their website www.cityimpact.org. I hope you enjoy coming along with us on this journey as we try to impact Lincoln youth to make an impact.

No More Pencil Bags!

Remember the excitement of getting school supplies? Finding the best supplies was crucial, like a hot pink pencil bag! Sadly enough there will be no pencil bags at the Impact Learning Center. Through experimenting with them this summer in City Impact’s Summer Program, we found that is was mandatory for every child to dump their entire bag’s supplies all over the floor. Marker’s lost lids and someone always ended up with one less crayon then they did before.

For the start of the Impact Learning Center we are trying to stick to simplicity. Shown above are the drawers that supplies will be kept. There will be supplies that rage from glue to pencils to paint to stickers. Our goal is to have each classroom and each teacher to be prepared for whatever they may need that day and to have it accessible.

We are excited for when these supplies will be used for the first time. When the paints are used in an art workshop, when the pencils are used to write a daily goal, or the glue is used to mount a picture, that is when these supplies are best used. Equally in our lives and in the lives of the students, we are at our best when we use the strengths that God created us with. If you are an organizer, organize. If you are caring, help someone around you. This is what we hope to empower students with. We want to them to use and develop the strengths that they have already been supplied with to make a difference in their own lives and those around them.

Got Direction?

The day is approaching when the Impact Learning Center will open its doors for the first time. Many staff and supporters of City Impact are anxiously waiting for that date. But there is a specific group of people that will be glad to know that every student got picked up from school, received snack, and was exposed to the truth that each one of them has the God-given potential to be an impact.

For the past ten months or so a team made up of staff, volunteers and parents of City Impact students, along with educators from the area worked together to discuss much of what the IMPACT Learning Center will look like. Each member sacrificed at least one Thursday night a week to collaborate and discuss the ins and outs of what the Impact Learning Center was going to look like and how it was going to function.

We have all heard the term, “Great minds think alike,” right? Well, not always. Members of this team didn’t always agree. Ideas clashed. Some were even shot, politely, down. Yet, that was the beauty of this diverse team. Ten people from all different aspects of life come together because each one believed in this program and believed that each child that entered it will be empowered to be something great.

There were many times during these meetings that members would stop and simply marvel of how this program, with God’s sovereignty, could have the ability to not only impact these students, but the community they live in and will live in.

So during an ordinary day at the Impact Learning Center, you will see the fingerprints of the Directional Team that wrestled with ideas, large and small. Whether it is in how snack is distributed, what supplies the kids have, or what life skills the kids will learn, this team has allowed the Impact Learning Center to begin with a running start.

Thank you directional team members: Amy Bowman, Emily Jameson, Daniela Mesquita, Cheryl Olson, Miriam Perez, Emily Snodgrass, Jami Spaulding, Gwendolyn Walker, Todd Bowman, and Bethany Larson.

My name is Jenna Gerstenschlager. I grew up in the small town of Palmyra, Nebraska with my mother, younger brother, and older sister. I was saved in the summer of 2006 and it was at that time it was as if the veil over my eyes was lifted and I finally understood the truth of the bible. At that point of time I decided to accept Christ as my savior. I graduated from Palmyra High School in May of 2006. I currently attend the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and am majoring in elementary education. Various babysitting jobs throughout high school helped cultivate my love for kids, and mission trips to Mexico opened my eyes to people less fortunate than me. I am excited to be working with youth and share the love of God with them.

Sweet Spot

From the Desk of Education Director Todd Bowman...

Sweet Spot. In his book Cure For The Common Life, this is term Max Lucado uses to describe the zone, the region, or the life precinct within which God created each person to dwell. God designed all us for a purpose and He gave each of us a unique set of talents, abilities, and strengths with which we are to carry out that purpose.
As a result of a generous grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and in conjunction with the Gallup Organization who is a partner in this endeavor, City Impact is in the process of developing an innovative, strengths-based education program. While this program will contain many of the elements of traditional education, at its heart lays an emphasis on building on the God-given strengths of the young people involved in our ministry.
Many people will go through their entire lives without ever finding their sweet spot. They will spend their lives in jobs they don’t enjoy. They will spend their lives pursuing that which never fulfills such as wealth, power, or status. They will spend their lives unaware of their unique talents and abilities. They will spend their lives oblivious to the unique purpose to which God had prepared them.
It is my desire as the Education Director to build a program in which every young person at City Impact involved in this program is given the opportunity to:

Use their uniqueness
to make a big deal out of God
every day of their life.
- Max Lucado

As City Impact moves forward in the process of building this strengths-based program, we ask for your continued support in prayer. Pray for everyone who will eventually be involved in the program including the youth, families, teachers, community leaders, volunteers, program coordinators, and others. Pray that God would generously grant wisdom to those involved in the creation and building of this program. Finally, pray for continued positive transformation in the lives of the youth, families, and neighborhoods in which we are ministering.
I am excited to be here at City Impact . God has laid a strong foundation in this organization with its mentoring Bible clubs, summer camps, Gifts of Love store, and many other programs. The Impact Learning Center will help strengthen that foundation and I feel blessed to be here as its Director.