Category Archives: Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes

Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes

Special Events at the Lowell Milken Center During the Big Kansas Road Trip

Leave a comment
The Lowell Milken Center is located at the corner of First and Wall Streets.

The Big Kansas Road Trip is scheduled for May 5-8, 2022, showcasing the counties of Bourbon, Cherokee, and Crawford. During this special Southeast Kansas event, The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes encourages visitors to tour the interactive Hall of Unsung Heroes exhibits and visit the new Unsung Heroes Park.  Both of these exhibit areas feature the dramatic and diverse stories of Unsung Heroes whose actions have had a profound and positive impact on the course of history. Tours will be available, free of charge, on Thursday and Friday from 10:00 – 5:00 p.m. and Saturday from 10:00 – 4:00 p.m.

 

All visitors are invited to participate in specially planned activities during the Big Kansas Road Trip. Featured programs will include a presentation and children’s book reading by author Cathy Werling at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Cathy, the author of the Unsung Heroes Children’s Book Series, will give an overview of the series’ featured heroes and share one of her books.

 

The cornerstone project of the Center, Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project, will be the highlight of the presentations at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. Norm Conard and Megan Felt, two of the project’s creators, will share Irena’s amazing story.

 

The books in the children’s series, as well as Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project will be available for sale and can be autographed by the presenters. The Center will also have a drawing for the chance to win one of our Unsung Heroes books. All visitors are welcome to sign up.

 

An additional event at the Center on Friday from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. will be the introduction of best-selling author, Roxie Yonkey.  She will be autographing her best-selling book, 100 Things to Do in Kansas Before You Die. Books can be purchased during the event or ahead of time at RoxieontheRoad.com/Shop. Roxie commented “When I signed the contract to write 100 Things Kansas, the Lowell Milken Center was one of the top places on my list to include in the book. When I visited the center, I could hardly restrain my tears because of the moving stories that the center told. People need to know these people, and I am so glad that the center tells their stories.”

 

Yonkey has been writing about Kansas for over 30 years. The book 100 Things to Do in Kansas Before You Die is her second book. In 2020, she co-authored the book Midwest Road Trip Adventures, which includes road trip guides for all 12 Midwest states. Her new book, Secret Kansas: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure, will come out in the spring of 2023.

About the Lowell Milken Center: The Lowell Milken Center is a non-profit 501 © (3) that works with students and educators within a range of diverse academic disciplines, to develop projects focused on unsung heroes. Once their projects are finished, we advocate the student’s unsung heroes by sharing them in our Hall of Unsung Heroes or our website so people all over the world discover their individual influence and obligation to take actions that improve the lives of others. The Hall of Unsung Heroes is proudly located in Southeast Kansas and showcases some of the top projects developed in collaboration with the Center.

Bourbon County, Fort Scott, Fort Scott Community College, Fort Scott National Historic Site, History, Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes, Youth

Brenner: Other Stories Need To Be Told

Leave a comment
Carl Brenner stands in front of the entrance to the fort in this August 2018 photo.

In 2019, a group of representatives from Fort Scott National Historic Site, Gordon Parks Museum, Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes, Fort Scott Community College, Bourbon County Historic Preservation Assn. and other partners, began work on a grant proposal.

The project title is Student Researched Unsung African American Heroes of Bourbon County.

The proposal idea came from Carl Brenner,  who has been the Chief of Interpretation and Resource Management at FSNHS since 2018.

The idea for a grant proposal came “from the dark recesses of my mind,” Brenner said.

“The fort has told the stories of white (mostly male) people coming….but Native American, women and African American stories need to be brought into the story.” he said.

“This project is funded through the National Park Service to work with community youth to uncover those stories that are little known or untold or under told,” he said.  “It is a partnership with the Park, the Gordon Park Museum, Fort Scott High School, and Fort Scott Community College.”

“Our historian, Dominic Henry, and other local volunteers, will assist students to research local African American leaders and those who fought for or ushered in change in our community and beyond,” Brenner said. “Once they have completed their research, they will create videos and social media posts to share their newly found stories in their own ‘voice’ to better connect with other youth.”

Those videos and social media posts will be shared on the park’s web and social media platforms and also shared by the Gordon Parks Museum, Fort Scott High School, and Fort Scott Community College.

“As the project is wrapping up, we will work with all of the partners to develop exhibits to share these stories and the student’s work with our visitors,” Brenner said.

“Through small stories like these, the hope is to have conversations about equality and equity and discuss the history and what we have learned from it,” Brenner said.

A kick-off for the project was planned for April 25, but due to unforeseen circumstances will need to be rescheduled, Brenner said.

Brenner is Acting Superintendent Since March

Brenner recently has been designated as the FSNHS Acting Superintendent, since former Superintendent Betty Boyko left in March 2022. He is also Acting Superintendent of Fort Larned National Historic Site and also providing guidance and training to Nicodemus National Historic Site.

The park phone number is 620-223-0310, its website https://www.nps.gov/fosc/index.htm

 

Fort Scott National Historic Site Schedule of  Annual Events

 

Civil War Encampment – April 23

Experience artillery, cavalry and infantry troops preparing for battle. Hear, see, and smell history come to life in a weekend of living history demonstrations and stories.

 

Symbols of Sacrifice – Memorial Day Weekend:

Approximately 7,000 flags commemorate the ultimate sacrifice members of the United States Armed Forces have made to keep this country free.

 

Good Ol’ Days – First Friday-Saturday of June:

Relive yesteryear in a town-wide celebration of Fort Scott’s history. Each year a different historical theme will be highlighted.

 

Independence Day Celebration – July 4th Weekend:

This holiday weekend feature talks, tours, demonstrations, and living history programs about Fort Scott’s role in pivotal events of American History in the place where they happened!

 

Labors of the Fort – Labor Day Weekend:

Learn about the jobs and tasks vital to the survival of the fort. Rangers and volunteers demonstrate skills and trades of the 1840’s.

 

Naturalization Ceremony – September 23:

Reflect on the privileges of US citizenship as you witness new citizens take the oath of allegiance to their newly ad- opted country.

 

Veterans Day Programs – Veteran’s Day Weekend:

Flags honoring our nation’s veterans will be on display and we will host discussions around service and the meaning of service.

 

Candlelight Tour –  December 2-3:

1,000 candle lanterns illuminate the site as reenactors (including you) bring the fort to life. Ticket sales begin November 1st.

Fort Scott National Historic Site glows during the annual candlelight tour event.

 

 

 

 

 

Bourbon County, Fort Scott, Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes

Send Encouragement to Ukraine Refugees: Lowell Milken Center Tomorrow

Leave a comment
The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes in Fort Scott is organizing the encouragement of the Ukrainian refugees in Poland through letters.
At the center, 1 S. Main,  from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday, March 19 there will be letter-writing stations set up for both adults and children to write letters of support that will be taken to refugees being harbored in Poland.
“Marzanna Pogorzelska,  who was an Irena Sendler Outstanding Teacher about 10 years ago, is in charge of this in Poland,” Executive Director Norm Conard said. The whole Pogorzelska family has taken time off of their jobs to help with the refugees, he said.
Ronda Hassig is in charge of the event in Fort Scott on March 19.
Ronda Hassig. Taken from the Lowell Milken Center Facebook page.
The following is from an email from Pogorzelska to Conard.
“We have been experiencing a horrible time,” Marzanna Pogorzelska, Lowell Milken Center in Europe (Poland) said.
“The war in the Ukraine reminds us of the times we thought would never come back. Polish society is now one big network of support for our Ukrainian brothers and sisters.
In this network there are thousands of organizations and people, but I think that one person with her network of supporters is missing now and here.
I can only imagine Her, Irena Sendler, these days. Finding safe places for Ukrainians mothers. Organizing cars to take them from the border to somebody’s house. Collecting food for small babies. Making sure the sick ones get necessary medicine….And many, many other things.
I also imagine Her determination and anger which she could always change in true care and support in her own, incredible way.”
To learn more about Irena Sendler, view this prior publication:
The Lowell Milken Center is located at the corner of First and Wall Streets.
Art, Entertainment, Fort Scott, History, Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes

Lowell Milken Center Features New Exhibits and Expands

Leave a comment
The unveiling of the exhibit honoring African American Suffragettes Mamie Dillard and Carrie Langston Hughes by Lowell Milken Center Docent Rhonda Hassig, left, and Miah Lugrand, the principal of Pinckney Elementary School, Lawrence, KS. Both Dillard and Hughes lived in Lawrence.

The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes, 1 S. Main, has expanded its’ exhibits into the park south of the building.

On October 8, the center hosted an unveiling of two Kansas black women who were suffragettes in the movement to allow women to vote. The exhibit was sponsored by a Kansas Humanities Grant and featured Carrie Langston Hughes and Mamie Dillard.

In addition, that day several new exhibits were unveiled in the green space area south of the center, named the Unsung Heroes Park.

“The objectives of the park are to provide a place for visitors to enjoy the pleasant outdoor scenery, learn about unsung heroes, and offer a centralized community gathering space for programs and activities, while also complementing the downtown area,” according to a prior LMC press release.

To view the  press release on the park:

New Unsung Heroes Park in Downtown Fort Scott

 

A Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes screen announcing the new exhibit featuring Kansas Suffragettes Carrie Langston Hughes and Mamie Dillard.

The new outside exhibits in the Unsung Heroes Park are inter-changeable and will be occasionally switched out, Ronda Hassig, LMC Docent, said.

“We are still awaiting murals that will be placed on the north side of the center, facing Wall Street and also on the south side of the center, facing the park,” she said.

The biggest part of the funding for the park was by the center’s founder Lowell Milken. Milken believes “education can awaken the mind, sustain curiosity and strengthen our engagement with others. More importantly, … education has the power to instill in people the impulse to take initiative for the good of others,” according to the LMC for Unsung Heroes website.

Others who helped with the park funding: the American Association of Retired People Challenge Award, The Timken Foundation, and a Sunderland Grant, Hassig said.

Lowell Milken Center Director Norm Conard, left, welcomes the crowd to the unveiling of new exhibits on Oct. 8. Megan Felt, LMC Program Director; Ronda Hassig, LMC Docent; Robert Nelson who sang a moving spiritual as part of the program and Gordon Parks Museum Director Kirk Sharp look on.

 

Norm Conard, left, watches as Kirk Sharp and Robert Nelson unveil the Gordon Parks exhibit, which is part of the new expanded space for exhibits south of the Lowell Milken Center in downtown Fort Scott.
The storyboard, also called a story rail, of Gordon Parks, who had a humble beginning in Fort Scott and went on to be a famed photographer, journalist, author, and film producer.
One of the new exhibits features Mary Anning.
Chester Nez, a World War II Veteran, who was a Navajo Code Talker in service to his country, is featured on the new story rail in the Lowell Milken Center Unsung Heroes Park.
Juanita Moody is a new featured exhibit in the Unsung Heroes Park.
Amos Bronson Alcott is newly featured in the Unsung Heroes Park.
A waterfall feature adds to the beauty of the Unsung Heroes Park.
The greenspace south of the Lowell Milken Center at Main and Wall Street in downtown Fort Scott has new exhibits in the expanded area. The picture is taken from the southside of the center looking south. Main Street is to the right.
Bourbon County, Entertainment, Fort Scott, Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes

Women’s Right To Vote Exhibit Reception Oct. 8

Leave a comment

Lowell Milken Center Announces October 8th, 2021

SPECIAL EVENT

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Women’s Right to Vote, the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes invites all to attend a reception and unveiling for the new exhibit/panel on Friday, October 8th at 3:30pm. The Center will honor unsung heroes and African American suffragists Carrie Langston Hughes and Mamie Dillard with a reception including wine and cheese, fruit and dessert, and music. This event is sponsored by a grant from Humanities Kansas and will be followed up in November with a cultural arts presentation on women’s suffrage and a community book read, Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”

About Humanities Kansas: Humanities Kansas is an independent nonprofit spearheading a movement of ideas to empower the people of Kansas to strengthen their communities and our democracy. Since 1972, our pioneering programming, grants, and partnerships have documented and shared stories to spark conversation and generate insights. Together with our partners and supporters, we inspire all Kansans to draw on history, literature, ethics, and culture to enrich their lives and serve the communities and state we all proudly call home. Visit humanitieskansas.org.

About the Lowell Milken Center: The Lowell Milken Center is a non-profit 501 © (3) that works with students and educators within a range of diverse academic disciplines, to develop projects focused on unsung heroes.

 

Ascension Via Christi, Bourbon County, Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas, COVID-19, Fort Scott, Fort Scott Community College, Fort Scott Police Department, Health Care, Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes, Schools

Center Honors Fort Scott’s Frontline Workers

Leave a comment
The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes is located a 1 S. Main, Fort Scott.

On July 28, the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes began a new exhibit entitled”Fort Scott’s Frontline Workers”, highlighting groups of local COVID-19 workers.

Hours at the center, located on Main Street at Wall Street in downtown Fort Scott are  Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The exhibition is pictorial with text that honors first responders from four local agencies, health care workers from five local agencies, and educators in five local public and private schools.

Lowell Milken Center’s Frontline Workers Exhibit, July 2021. Submitted photo.
“Contacts were made to all the different agencies, we received input from several administrators and staff,” Cathy Werling, spokesperson for LMC said.
Cathy Werling is a children’s book author at the Lowell Milken Center For Unsung Heroes in Fort Scott, who has published several books depicting unsung heroes at a young child’s level of understanding.

This new exhibit has been made possible with funds received from a Fort Scott Area Community Foundation grant, according to an LMC press release.

“Work began on plans for the project in October of 2020 after we knew we received the Fort Scott Area Community Foundation grant,” Werling said. “Contacting and interviewing all of the various frontline worker’s staff began in January of 2021.”

“The Lowell Milken Center’s Fort Scott’s Frontline Heroes project highlights frontline professions within our community who have been directly dealing with pandemic issues in order to provide safe and direct action for our citizens,” according to the press release.

Law enforcement photo from the exhibit.

The following are recognized: firefighters, law enforcement officers, emergency medical services workers, health care workers from Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas, Ascension Via Christi Emergency Department, Southeast Kansas Multi-County Health Department, and long-term care facilities, assisted/independent living facilities, and local teachers/administrators at schools.

Educators. Photo from the exhibit.

“The LMC believes these groups of workers are truly Fort Scott’s unsung heroes, as they have given so much of themselves to our community’s citizens during the pandemic and continue to do so,” according to the press release. “We encourage all Fort Scott area citizens to support these heroes by viewing the new exhibits at the Lowell Milken Center, sharing words of gratitude and support in the LMC guest book and through the LMC’s social media pages on Facebook – www.facebook.com/LowellMilkenCenter, Twitter – https://twitter.com/LowellMilkenCtr, and Instagram – www.instagram.com/LowellMilkenCtr.”

Emergency Medical Services workers. Photo from the exhibit.

 

About the Lowell Milken Center: The Lowell Milken Center is a non-profit 501 © (3) that works with students and educators within a range of diverse academic disciplines, to develop projects focused on unsung heroes. Once their projects are finished, the student’s unsung heroes are shared in the Hall of Unsung Heroes or on the website, encouraging people all over the world to discover their individual influence and obligation to take actions that improve the lives of others. The Hall of Unsung Heroes is proudly located in Southeast Kansas and showcases some of the top projects developed in collaboration with the Center.

 

Bourbon County, Fort Scott, History, Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes

Fort Scott’s Frontline Pandemic Workers Honored

1 Comment

Lowell Milken Center Announces New Banner Exhibits Honoring Fort Scott’s Frontline Workers

 

The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes invites all community members to visit the Center beginning Wednesday, July 28, 2021, to see its newest exhibit, “Fort Scott’s Frontline Heroes.” Three new banners will be part of the exhibit, highlighting three groups of frontline workers – First Responders, Health Care Workers, and Educators. This new exhibit has been made possible with funds received from a Fort Scott Area Community Foundation grant.

The Lowell Milken Center’s “Fort Scott’s Frontline Heroes” project highlights frontline professions within our community who have been directly dealing with pandemic issues in order to provide safe and direct action for our citizens. The following three groups have been recognized in the new banner exhibits: FIRST RESPONDERS (Firefighters, Law Enforcement Officers, EMS Workers), HEALTH CARE WORKERS (CHCSEK, Ascension/Via Christi ER, Southeast Kansas Multi-County Health Department, Long Term Care Facilities, Assisted/Independent Living Facilities), and EDUCATORS (Public and Private Schools).

The LMC believes these groups of workers are truly Fort Scott’s “unsung heroes,” as they have given so much of themselves to our community’s citizens during the pandemic and continue to do so. We encourage all Fort Scott area citizens to support these heroes by viewing the new exhibits at the Lowell Milken Center, sharing words of gratitude and support in the LMC guest book and through the LMC’s social media pages on Facebook – www.facebook.com/LowellMilkenCenter, Twitter – https://twitter.com/LowellMilkenCtr, and Instagram – www.instagram.com/LowellMilkenCtr.

About the Lowell Milken Center: The Lowell Milken Center is a non-profit 501 © (3) that works with students and educators within a range of diverse academic disciplines, to develop projects focused on unsung heroes. Once their projects are finished, the student’s unsung heroes are shared in the Hall of Unsung Heroes or on the website, encouraging people all over the world to discover their individual influence and obligation to take actions that improve the lives of others. The Hall of Unsung Heroes is proudly located in Southeast Kansas and showcases some of the top projects developed in collaboration with the Center.

 

Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes

Lowell Milken Center Fellows Welcomed to Fort Scott

Leave a comment
Fort Scott City Manager Jeremy Frazier presented the keys to the city to the Lowell Milken Center Fellows. Front row: LMC Fellows Jennifer Braverman, J.D. Bowman, Konstantinos Kovoros, and Lauren Sepulveda. Back row: Chamber Director Lindsey Madison, City Manager Jeremy Frazier, LMC Fellows Megan Helberg and Leslie Sullivan, Tourism Director Jackson Tough, Community Development Director Allyson Turvey. Submitted photo.

2021 Lowell Milken Center Fellows Receive Keys to the City

The Lowell Milken Center (LMC) for Unsung Heroes in Fort Scott, Kansas has awarded its 2021 Fellowship to 14 educators. As part of their week-long experience in Fort Scott, the six fellows for June 27 – July 2 were given the key to the city by Fort Scott City Manager, Jeremy Frazier, along with Community Development Manager, Allyson Turvey, and Director of Economic Development, Rachel Pruitt. (Eight other Fellows were in Fort Scott last week.)

Upon the presentation of the keys, City Manager Jeremy Frazier said, “The City of Fort Scott is honored to present keys to the city to the 2021 Lowell Milken Center Fellows. It is inspiring that these top educators have come to Fort Scott to cultivate their passion for education and will return to their communities to continue the work of the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes. People matter and the recognition of the many amazing contributions of unsung heroes is an important undertaking that is often underserved. Through the sharing of these inspiring unsung heroes’ stories, the world will be a better place.”

The LMC Fellowship is awarded on the basis of merit to educators who have distinguished themselves in teaching respect and understanding through project-based learning or who have the potential for this distinction. The Center selects exemplary teachers from across America and around the world, drawn from a variety of disciplines, to collaborate on projects that discover, develop, and communicate the stories of Unsung Heroes in history.

John-David Bowman taught for 14 years at the high school level and also spent 3 years teaching at Arizona State University. His favorite courses include IB Political Theory, IB Theory of Knowledge, and AP US History. Bowman has a BA in History and a BA in Political Science from ASU, and a MA in Secondary Education with an emphasis in History from NAU.

Bowman believes that there are tremendous things going on in Arizona schools and feels there a need to celebrate those accomplishments, while continually striving to find ways to improve whenever possible. He focuses on student relationships as the foundation of his teaching philosophy. Bowman was Arizona’s 2015 Teacher of the Year and the 2017 Arizona History Teacher of the Year. He is from Glendale, Arizona.

 

Jennifer Braverman, Maple Shade, New Jersey, is an artivist who combines education and visual art and actively engages her audience in contemporary issues. Braverman’s art has been featured in solo and group exhibitions locally and nationally.  She is an author and illustrator for two educational coloring books and currently is teaching AP Studio Art, Digital Mixed Media, and many other courses to grades 7-12 at Maple Shade High School.

Braverman has been an adjunct in the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies department at The College of New Jersey since 2013, teaching Gender, Pop Culture, and LGBTQ Issues in K-12 Education. She has supervised over 50 independent projects in which students focus on social justice and education. Braverman was named the 2013 Burlington County Outstanding Woman of the Year in the Arts and recognized as a member of the 2014 Inaugural Class of 40 under 40 for community leadership. She was also the 2016 Burlington County Teacher of the Year, the 2017 Moorestown-Masonic Lodge Teacher of the Year, and is a Certified Welcoming Schools National Facilitator for the Human Rights Campaign.  She is passionate about teaching and making the classroom a place for all students to thrive.  To learn more about Jennifer Braverman please visit www.jenniferbraverman.co

2020 Nebraska Teacher of the Year, Megan McNeil Helberg, proudly lives in rural Taylor, Nebraska, where she taught English to 8th, 11th, and 12th-grade students at Burwell Public School. This coming school year, she will be returning to teach 7-12th grade English at her alma mater, Loup County Public School in Taylor, NE. After growing up on a ranch in this area of the Sandhills, with only ten people in her graduating class, Megan feels strongly about exposing her students to various cultures and ways of life.

Sharing Holocaust and genocide education is an important passion for Helberg. In 2013, upon receiving a Fund for Teachers fellowship, Megan used the opportunity to visit Holocaust-related sites throughout Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. She also used the grant money to purchase class sets of Holocaust literature resources for her school. She was named a Museum Teacher Fellow for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in 2016 and has spent extensive time at the USHMM, learning from world-renowned historians, authors, and survivors. Helberg saw a lack of exposure in her small town, so she founded a travel club for the school and community members to travel together and bridge the gap between school and community. She has  spent time in Rwanda, Africa, studying the 1994 genocide and in the Amazon Rain Forest, living with an indigenous tribe. She brings her stories and the experiences from her travels back to her classroom in the heart of Nebraska. The main mantra in Helberg’s classroom is, “Look for the good: in others, in your community, and in yourself. If you do not see any good, CREATE it.”

Continue reading Lowell Milken Center Fellows Welcomed to Fort Scott →

Entertainment, History, Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes

New Unsung Heroes Park in Downtown Fort Scott

Leave a comment
Fort Scott Tourism Director Jackson Tough, City Park Committee Members Beth Nuss and Elaine Buerge, LMC Communications Director Karen Wilterding, LMC Program Director Megan Felt, LMC Executive Director Norm Conard, City Manager Jeremy Frazier, Chamber Director Lindsey Madison, Owner of Dreamscapes Innovations Josh Baldwin, City Economic Development Rachel Pruitt, and Community Development Director Allyson Turvey. Submitted photo.

The Lowell Milken Center Breaks Ground for New Unsung Heroes Park

Construction on the Lowell Milken Center’s new Unsung Heroes Park has officially begun, with groundbreaking taking place Tuesday, June 29, 2021, at 11:00 a.m.

With this much-anticipated expansion to the center and an opportunity to be part of Fort Scott’s downtown revitalization, the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes is anxious to share this newest resource with both the community and the many visitors that come to Fort Scott.

“We are so proud of our latest addition to the Lowell Milken Center and to downtown Fort Scott,” said Norm Conard, the executive director. “Our vision is to have an impact on our community and the entire region in many different and positive ways. We appreciate the benevolent funding from the Lowell Milken Family Foundation and other significant contributions from generous donors such as Timken and others.”

The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes (LMC) completed its main building in 2016 at the corner of Fort Scott’s Wall and Main Streets.

In 2018, a park was begun in the adjacent space south of the building in conjunction with members of the city’s park committee: Beth Nuss, Elaine Buerge, Carolyn Sinn, and Bernita Hill.

The LMC will now complete the park, called the “Unsung Heroes Park,” featuring outdoor Unsung Hero exhibits with interactive story rails, a walking trail, an enhanced water feature, and beautiful landscaping with bench seating.

The objectives of the park are to provide a place for visitors to enjoy the pleasant outdoor scenery, learn about unsung heroes, and offer a centralized community gathering space for programs and activities, while also complementing the downtown area.

The new Lowell Milken Center’s Unsung Heroes Park is expected to be completed in mid-August by Dreamscape Innovations, Inc.

The park will also feature the talents of teachers who have visited Fort Scott as past LMC Fellows and have helped design the park exhibits that will share new stories of Unsung Heroes.

To learn more about the Center and its stories and programs visit www.lowellmilkencenter.org and keep up with current events and announcements on their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/LowellMilkenCenter.

According to Community Development Manager Allyson Turvey, “The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes is truly one of the great assets of Fort Scott and enriches our entire community. We are so thrilled to see the addition of the Unsung Heroes Park which will create a vibrant green space in our historic downtown and will benefit not only our local community but the thousands of tourists that visit Fort Scott each year.”

Since its inception, the Lowell Milken Center locally has hosted over 80,000 visitors from every state in the country and has impacted over 2 million students through its various programs.

The LMC was established in 2007 and has expanded its reach nationally to include international programs and visitors from 102 countries to the LMC in Fort Scott.

The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes is an educational non-profit that discovers, develops and communicates the stories of Unsung Heroes.

Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes

New Museum Display For Unsung Hero Pavel Weiner at LMC

Leave a comment

The Rubin* and Gloria Feldman Family Educational Institute of the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum recently awarded $2,350.00 to the Life in a Jar Foundation and Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes. The monies will support a museum display for “Unsung Hero Pavel Weiner and the student project “Writing to Resist.”  Ronda Hassig serves as project director.

Norm Conard, Executive Director of the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes, explained “Pavel Weiner was a teenager that showed immense courage while imprisoned by the Nazis at the Terezin concentration camp. He is a role model for all young people to use whatever means necessary to resist tyranny, even something as simple as a pencil and your diary. During this pandemic his story is even more important!”

About the Institute and Holocaust museum

The Rubin* and Gloria Feldman Family Educational Institute of the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum works to empower every person to stand up to hate, bigotry, racism, anti-Semitism, and injustice in their everyday lives. The St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum honors the family of local St. Louis survivors Gloria Kaplan Feldman and her brother David Kaplan. The museum recently broke ground for a new $21 million expansion to the museum!

About the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes

The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes works to transform classrooms and communities through student-driven projects that discover Unsung Heroes from history and teach the power of one to create positive change.  Everyone, especially our young people deserve role models who demonstrate courage, compassion and respect.  Pavel Weiner is just such a hero!

*of Blessed Memory

Business, Fort Scott, Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes

Lowell Milken Center Receives $1,500 From Evergy

Leave a comment

Evergy recently awarded $1,500 to the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes in support of the “Unsung Heroes of the Environment (Role Models for America’s Youth)” museum display.  Ronda Hassig serves as project director. Norm Conard, Executive Director of the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes, said “Jacob Valentine II was an unsung hero that worked his whole life as an advocate for the environment and the species that live in it.  Exhibiting Jacob Valentine II in our museum serves as a powerful role model for everyone who sees it.  We are excited to share his story!”

 

About Evergy

 

Evergy wants to be a good neighbor, civic leader, and community partner in the communities they serve.  They want communities to understand that the commitment they have to powering the lives of their customers goes beyond simply providing safe, clean, reliable energy.  Evergy supports programs designed to invest in the education of tomorrow’s workforce to the skills and knowledge required are available to enable Evergy to thrive in the future.

 

About the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes

The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes works to transform classrooms and communities through student-driven projects that discover Unsung Heroes from history and teach the power of one to create positive change.  Everyone, especially our young people deserve role models who demonstrate courage, compassion and respect.  Jacob Valentine II was just such a hero!

Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes

Lowell Milken Discovery Award Winners Announced

Leave a comment
The Lowell Milken Center is located at the corner of First and Wall Streets, Fort Scott.

STUDENTS DISCOVER UNSUNG HEROES WHO CHANGED THE WORLD AND WIN $13,000 IN PRIZES FOR THEIR EFFORTS

 

Discovery Award grand prize goes to Topeka, Kansas student for “All the World Loves a Baby” inspired by unsung hero Martin Couney

VIEW ALL THE WINNING PROJECTS

 

FORT SCOTT, KS, (September 16, 2020) – Washburn Rural Middle School student Allison Reed just learned via Zoom that she is the $6,000 Grand Prize winner of the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes’ annual Discovery Award competition. Through research and a compelling documentary, Reed’s entry “All the World Loves a Baby” explores the actions of Martin Couney, who in 1920 determined to save premature babies, assumed by the medical establishment to be a lost cause. By placing the tiny infants in incubators displayed in carnival sideshows to fund the effort, Couney saved thousands of lives. Hospitals eventually followed suit.

 

According to Norm Conard, executive director of the Lowell Milken Center (LMC), All the World Loves a Baby is an exceptional project in every way. Allison Reed has assembled a documentary which shows a brilliant quality of work. The story of Martin Couney is unique, unsung and inspirational. We look forward to expanding this story in an exhibit for our Hall of Unsung Heroes.” Conard also congratulated Reed’s teachers Lindsey Dowell and Alice Bertels.

From its base in Fort Scott, Kansas, LMC has awarded elementary, middle and high school students $13,000 in cash prizes in its 2019-20 Discovery Award competition. The international competition is designed to inspire students by prompting them to conduct primary and secondary research projects on unsung heroes from history whose accomplishments remain largely unknown to the public.

The $2,000 Second Place award has gone to Elaine Jiao, Dayoung (Grace) Lee, and Zara Qizilbash from Jericho High School in Jericho, New York. The students combed through court case literature, utilized book research, conducted interviews and created a documentary to tell the story of unsung hero Ann Hopkins in their entry Ann Hopkins: Breaking the Glass Ceiling in Employment. Hopkins was denied partnership at the accounting firm Price Waterhouse for not dressing or acting feminine enough. In 1982, she sued and her case made it to the Supreme Court, where it was settled in her favor establishing a precedent for discrimination in the workplace. [Teacher Valerie Conklin.]

The $2,000 Outstanding High School Project award has gone to Megan Allacher, a Seaman High School student in Topeka, KS. Allacher utilized Internet research and created a website to tell the story of unsung hero Jackie Ormes in her entry Jackie Ormes: First African American Female Cartoonist. Through her art, Ormes portrayed real-life issues African Americans faced and was an activist for racial as well as gender equality. [Teachers Nathan McAlister and Susan Sittenauer.]

The $2,000 Outstanding Middle School Project award has gone to Jericho Middle School student Kaitlyn Choi in Jericho, NY. Conducting research and interviews, Choi developed a website to tell the story of unsung hero James Reese Europe: The Jazz Lieutenant. Europe not only was the first African American officer to lead troops in World War I, he was also a composer, conductor and organizer who created a labor union and contracting agency for African American entertainers. Leading a wartime brass band in France, he introduced jazz to the European continent. [Teacher Konstantine Kovoros.]

 

The $1,000 Outstanding Elementary School Project award has gone to Nicholas Turco, a Carolina Park Elementary School student in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. Turco’s research led to his documentary Discoveries for the Centuries, sharing the struggles and achievements of unsung hero Mary Anning. Anning defied sexism in the scientific community as a successful fossil collector and paleontologist who made several discoveries that changed paleontology forever. [Teacher Mary Huffman.]

 

The $13,000 in cash prizes can be used in any way students see fit. Due to COVID-19, students were notified about their winnings via video call.

 

LMC’s Discovery Award provides U.S. and international students in grades 4 through 12 a unique opportunity to use their artistic talents to develop projects that showcase the power one person has to make positive change in the world. Projects can take the form of documentary/multimedia, performance or website and require robust research, an annotated bibliography and a process paper. The unsung heroes’ stories must show potential for life beyond the development of the project, and an ability to inspire students and others to take sustainable actions that carry out the legacies of their subjects.

“Real heroes tower and guide,” said LMC Founder Lowell Milken. “But their stories need to be discovered and heard. And when we do, we have the opportunity to motivate new generations to aspire to values that are essential during the challenging times we face individually, as a nation and as a world community.”

Submissions for the next competition season will open mid-2021.

VIEW ALL THE WINNING PROJECTS

About LMC

Established in 2007, the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes (LMC) discovers, develops and communicates the stories of unsung heroes who have made a profound and positive impact on history, yet are largely unrecognized by contemporary generations. LMC has reached over 2,000,000 students and 11,000 schools in all 50 states and countries around the world. Learn more about LMC and the Discovery Award. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.