Savannah Burris serves as panelist at rural education conference

    Who better to talk about rural education than students, teachers and administrators who actually come from rural schools?
    Holyoke High School senior Savannah Burris was selected to be part of a panel at National Rural Education Association’s National Forum to Advance Rural Education.
    She addressed a crowd of 635 attendees from 45 states and three countries who participated in the Oct. 11-13 conference that was held in Denver for the first time.
    Others on the panel included Kendrick Fetzer, a Haxtun High School junior, and Kyerie Lechman, a Revere High School junior, as well as two Colorado college students.
    Holyoke School District Superintendent Kyle Stumpf, who was also at the conference, said Burris did a good job representing the district. He received good comments from people around the state and was pleased for the opportunity to have three northeast Colorado students showcased at the conference.
    When Burris was asked what she would do differently if she could design her own school, she said she would put a greater focus on figuring out each student’s strong points so they have a better idea of potential careers after high school. She’d like to see a career focus spread out over several years instead of crammed into the senior year.
    Burris also felt strongly about exposing students to career opportunities that are outside of Holyoke. While those jobs might take them to an urban area, they could potentially bring unique careers back to a rural area in the future.

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