Diehl recognized with Joekel Award for leadership development in the classroom

Lincoln Public Schools Middle School English Coordinator Allysa Diehl received the Ron Joekel Leadership Award at Launch Leadership’s annual Fire and Fuzzies banquet Saturday night. The award recognizes an educator who is a champion of youth leadership development in the classroom and community.

Diehl was nominated by a former student, and was selected to receive the award based on her dedication to promoting youth leadership during her nine years as a language arts teacher at Schoo Middle School. During her time at Schoo, Diehl was the student council advisor and developed a leadership class for middle school students. She was recognized as the middle school advisor of the year by the Nebraska Association of Student Councils in 2012. Diehl has impacted the lives of countless students and gave them the opportunity to fnd their voice as a leader and work to make their schools and communities a better place.

“I am honored to be this year's recipient of the Ron Joekel Award,” Diehl said. “I am very passionate about youth leadership development, and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time teaching youth leadership skills in the classroom and in the extracurricular activities I have sponsored. I can tell you with certainty that our youth are interested in exploring leadership concepts and that they are craving leadership opportunities and the chance to get involved. I have been fortunate to have been able to bridge my students with all that Launch provides in order to give them even richer experiences. Thank you so much for this award; it is a tremendous warm fuzzy!”

Diehl is a Superior native and graduate of University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Doane University.

The award is named for the late Ron Joekel, a long-time educator who taught at the University of NebraskaLincoln for more than 40 years and was instrumental in the development and growth of Launch’s Summer Leadership Workshop. He served as the director of the Nebraska Association of Student Council for 20 years, the national president of Phi Delta Kappa and on the Board of Directors of the Nebraska Council of School Administrators.

About Launch
Launch Leadership originated as a volunteer organization back in 1976. It promotes and develops youth leadership through an annual fve-day summer workshop in Wayne, Neb., and dozens of year-round services across Nebraska. Launch is based in Lincoln with more than 200 members across the United States. For more information about Launch contact us at launch@launchleadership.org.


Published: August 16, 2017, Updated: August 16, 2017