New projects to serve as greeting at KHS

When longtime Kimballite Jim Robinson passed away last winter, his family asked that all memorial donations be given to the Kimball School Foundation.

That money is now being used to update the island on the west side of Kimball High School in memory of Robinson.

"We were always kind of interested in doing something with the school," said Greg Robinson, his son. "We struggled for a while trying to figure out what to do. We wanted something visible that we could put our name on."

As soon as Superintendent Marshall Lewis said that the island in the center of the parking lot needed some work, Robinson knew that was the project he wanted to do.

"It hit me that Tony, my son, who made this design, graduated from UNL in landscape architecture," Robinson said. "We are happy that we can incorporate the agriculture and shop class students, who will do the bulk of the work. Not only are we going to get a nice project, but we are going to get some educational value."

Metal, powder coated letters will spell out 'Longhorns' on the school side and 'KHS' on the street side of the island.

"We are excited we are able to do it and make it an educational experience for the kids," Robinson said.

Robinson said that shop teacher Gene Mohr is most excited about the curved and tapered concrete wall in the design, which will provide quite a challenge for the students.

Whatever expense cannot be covered by memorial funds will be covered by the family.

The timeline will depend on the classes that are working on the project. Robinson hopes it is nearly complete before the snow hits the ground, though the plants may not go in this fall.

"I've got a lot of pieces working together and if any step gets out of whack it could delay the project," Robinson said. "Living here my whole life, I never realized that there is nothing that welcomes you to school."

Another welcoming addition to the school will be a project at the corner of Ninth and Nadine streets from the KHS class of 1961.

"Our class has a separate fund in the foundation that we keep separate that can only be spent with approval from the class of '61," said Jerry Knutsen, president of the KHS graduating class of 1961.

Knutsen asked current superintendent Marshall Lewis about a sign welcoming visitors and with the support of Lewis, the project started to take shape.

The class hoped to erect a digital marquis, but Knutsen said it became clear that the class was well short of that mark.

"I just drew this design up free hand and showed it to Lewis and asked if he thought this would be acceptable," Knutsen said. "He was very enthusiastic about it and really encouraged us to do something like this."

Knutsen double checked with a representative group of classmates during an All-Class party at his house this summer.

"I had 22 of 34 surviving members at that party," Knutsen said. "Our class has always been very supportive of the school here in Kimball. It gave us what we needed to be successful in life."

He talked with classmates about the changes that were needed to make the signage happen for the school, including going with a new design.

"We are of the age that if we want to do something, we should probably be doing it," Knutsen said. "It's moving slowly, but we don't have a timeline on this."

This large concrete sign will be faced with blonde bricks, but will not include lighting, according to Knutsen. He said it will complement the memorial project for the island on the west side of the school.

Sally Wheeler's agriculture students will learn a program to cut out the metal letters for both projects.

Those letters will then be taken to Pine Bluffs, Wyo., for powder coating and finishing.