Our Mission

With gratitude, the GIPS Foundation acknowledged the outstanding generosity of its staff, who presented 10,000 reasons, one for each student, to invest in student opportunities. A significant highlight of this year's campaign was the heartfelt gesture from Joel and Terry Wiegand, who provided a $5,000 matching gift for all new or increased donations to the Foundation during this year’s campaign.

Volume 10 | Number 3

Welcome to Rise, the voice of Grand Island Senior High alumni and friends. We show up every other month in over 9,000 in-boxes bringing you news, views, and memories of GISH. Rise is a publication of the Grand Island Public Schools Foundation.

Volume 10 | Number 2

Welcome to Rise, the voice of Grand Island Senior High alumni and friends. We show up every other month in over 9,000 in-boxes bringing you news, views, and memories of GISH. Rise is a publication of the Grand Island Public Schools Foundation.

This is Issue #2 of our tenth year of publishing the only consistent connection for alumni and friends of Grand Island Senior High. That makes this iteration 56 of Rise as we reach a decade of bringing the comings and goings of Islander alums across the globe.

We start things “At the Top,” with a piece on ways to dive deeper into the comings and goings at Senior High in addition to Rise. In her “Foundation Focus” piece, Abigayle Frazier-Hansen walks through the Foundation’s Classroom Grants and all the good educational opportunities they afford GIPS students. Kari Hooker-Leep’s “Making Your Mark” is a deep dive into how alumni can still be part of the ongoing story that is Grand Island Senior High. Mike Monk's “Distant Mirror” tracks the highs and lows of three events from the last year. The transitory nature of March is the subject of my “I’ve Been Thinking” column.

Wandering Writer Sarah Kuta takes us to a beautiful place where motor vehicles are unwelcome. “On the Island” correspondent, Alex Weaver, introduces us to Senior High’s Hulagans, who continue to spread good vibes on North Lafayette. Our Milestone this issue features an Islander who is Nebraska’s newest District Judge.

As usual, in our In Memoriam we honor those Islanders who have passed, in Reunions we have class gatherings and other class get-togethers, and in Class Notes we have the lives and times of Islanders everywhere. And, once again, you’ll get a chance to test your memory or at least your Google search skills with another edition of Islander Trivia.

Stay in touch, Islanders. And remember: Keep pushing on.