Pretzels, marshmallows and candy pieces were effective conversation-starting ingredients for Scott Middle School staff members before school began.

Dozens of teachers, administrators and staff members formed stronger connections during a Scott Chopped food activity. Teams used multiple ingredients to create edible contest entries for a panel of judges. They also built friendships that will benefit everyone at school throughout the 2026-27 academic year.

Scott teacher Nicole Liss felt the fun idea met the school’s community engagement goals. Liss leads health and physical education classes and teamed up with six other Stars on their food-based project. She said having a strong network of colleagues was one reason she enjoys coming to work each day.

“I feel like they do a good job here of making sure everybody knows everybody,” Liss said. “This is my third year here, and I feel like I know everybody. This is one of the biggest schools, but I look around, and I can talk to everyone here.”

Scott Principal Jesse Tvrdy said it was important for her staff to form close-knit bonds across campus. The Scott Chopped activity aimed to promote community engagement both internally and civically. Local business owner Toby Antonson oversaw the event, and the four-person judging panel included both students and district staff.

“Sometimes when you start off right away into the meat of things, you lose that opportunity to make authentic connections and build trust and camaraderie,” Tvrdy said. “By starting off with something like this and having some fun conversations and laughing, it just sets a positive start to everything.”

Antonson said he was impressed with everyone's inventiveness during the morning. For example, Liss’ group created a soccer field in a square container for the contest. The team placed candies and cranberries on either side to represent World Cup finalists Spain and Argentina, and they made soccer goals by tipping over small paper candy trays.

“It’s a blast to do this,” Antonson said. “It shows that everyone can work together, and it shows how much food can build partnerships. It can build teamwork, it can build creativity. I thought they might just put something together and that was that, but the creativity that came out of it was really fun to see.”

Tvrdy placed people who spend time in different sections of the building into each group to help relationships take root. For example, sixth grade teachers were assigned to tables alongside eighth grade instructors, school counselors and music leaders. This gave everyone a chance to learn names, share stories and form a pleasant workplace foundation.

“The last three years that I’ve been principal, we’ve purposely made groups to connect different wings together and different people together,” Tvrdy said. “We’re going to continue to do these things, because ultimately, it grows connection. People find different things about each other that help them build friendships and it sparks a lot of good conversations. When you have a good culture like that in your building, it flows down to teaching and learning and positive things for students, which is our main goal.”

Liss said she feels that strategy has worked at Scott. She said students have noticed that staff members enjoy being around each other and are enthusiastic about teaching them lessons. That, in turn, translates into a greater sense of belonging that can lead to positive classroom results.

For example, in the 2024-25 school year, 89 percent of Scott eighth graders scored proficient marks on the Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System (NSCAS) science test, which was higher than the state average of 80 percent. Eighty-one percent of Scott students in grades 6-8 were proficient in math – well above the state average of 58 percent.

“The kids want to learn here and they’re motivated to learn,” Liss said. “A lot of them are really smart, but they still push themselves every day because they want to be better. I really like that. I like the motivation of wanting to be here and wanting to be better.”

Tvrdy said group activities also set the table for discussing important education topics like grading and curriculum. When staff members feel more comfortable communicating with their school’s team, they are more likely to develop solutions that help everyone in their building.

“We’ll be talking about grading later this morning and having everyone on the same page in our departments,” Tvrdy said. “That’s a little harder conversation because everybody has things they feel strongly about. By starting with something like this, it makes those harder conversations a little easier.”

Tvrdy said she wants to expand that partnership mindset beyond Scott’s building as well. The school will start a community gardening group this fall, and Scott’s parent-teacher organization has joined forces with the Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools on local initiatives. Parents and other volunteers will also make popcorn each Friday to recognize classrooms that displayed positive behavior when substitute teachers are in the building. In addition, Scott will continue a volunteer of the year program it began two years ago.

Antonson said the smiles he saw were a good indicator of how the 2026-27 school year will go at Scott.

“It’s great to be able to come in before school starts off and be a part of this,” Antonson said. “It’s amazing to see the instructors outside of the school day and see them engaged and having fun.”

Discover how Scott’s community engagement initiatives tie in with the 2024-29 LPS Strategic Plan.

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